Eupen kicked off the season stripped of their main attacking talent from last season in Henry Onyekuru and Mamadou Sylla. Yet they did make a pretty impressive new addition up front in the experienced Mbaye Leye and were hoping to have another season of consolidation with a core of young players under the guidance of Jordi Condon. Yet a drubbing at the hands of Zulte Waregem in the opening game set the tone for an utterly miserable first half of the season.
Eupen could not keep a single clean sheet in the opening 18 games of the season and spent most of the autumn adrift at the bottom of the table. There was no sense of security and assurance in the back while the attacking players could not quite click as they did last seasom, resulting in just two wins in the period from late July to the end of the 2017.
Condom was soon under pressure and was eventually let go in November, with famous former French international Claude Makelele coming in as a replacement. He was expected to bring more defensive stability and indeed Eupen became more defensively sound and stodgy. They claimed the odd win as well and closed the gap to main rivals Mechelen as the battle to avoid automatic relegation reached a critical stage. It seemed like a 1:0 loss in the six-pointer against the Yellow and Reds in February would consign the Pandas to the drop but they remained level on points off with rivals before the last game of the season.
The clash against Mouscron turned into extraordinary drama in the second half as Eupen eventually found their scoring boots and scored four goals in 15 minutes to eventually scrape to safety by the virtue of a one goal superior goal difference. The play-offs were very much an afterthought for Makelele's side once they achieved safety, earning just two wins in ten games.
