Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Eredivisie clash between Heerenveen and PEC Zwolle, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Off the back of contrasting results last time out, Heerenveen and PEC Zwolle will do battle at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
The home side are unbeaten in six straight matches against the visitors leading up to this weekend’s affair and will fancy their chances of coming away with a positive outcome in this one.
Match preview
© Imago
Heerenveen’s woes away from home came to the fore once again as they fell to a narrow 2-1 defeat against Heracles in Friday’s encounter between the teams at the Asito Stadium.
Dimitris Rallis‘s first goal of the campaign cancelled out Damon Mirani‘s opener and looked set to secure a point for Robin van Persie‘s men before Mario Engels struck in the 87th minute to settle matters.
That was a fourth consecutive defeat on enemy territory for De Superfriezen, but they are, however, unbeaten in three matches in front of their fans since the start of the season.
Now sitting just a point shy of the bottom three, Van Persie will be hoping his side continue to pick up results on home turf to avoid being sucked into a relegation scrap.
Despite boasting a favourable record against this weekend’s opponents, Heerenveen’s task has been complicated by the absence of leading goalscorer Ion Nicolaescu, who is set to miss a second straight game.
© Imago
PEC Zwolle continued their recent resurgence by beating Almere City 1-0 at the MAC³PARK Stadion on Sunday to claim a second victory in four matches either side of the international break.
Via a stroke of luck, Johnny Jansen‘s men took the lead in the 78th minute as James Lawrence inadvertently turned the ball past his own goalkeeper to settle a nervy affair.
Since kicking off the season with three defeats on the spin, De Blauwvingers have picked up seven points from their subsequent four matches to move up to 13th in the Eredivisie standings.
Zwolle’s quest to secure consecutive victories certainly represents a tough ask given their recent record on enemy territory, as they remain without an away competitive victory since early February.
Heerenveen Eredivisie form:
PEC Zwolle Eredivisie form:
Team News
© Imago
Long-term absentees Tristan Gooijer and Samir Lagsir remain sidelined for PEC Zwolle due to knee injuries and are both unavailable for Sunday’s encounter.
Ghanaian Braydon Manu had a debut to forget for the away side having being hauled off with a muscle injury, which has kept him out of action since then.
Dylan Vente was unable to stretch his scoring streak to three games last time out but still put in a decent shift and should retain his place in the starting lineup.
In the absence of Ion Nicolaescu, 19-year-old Dimitris Rallis is expected to lead the line for Heerenveen once again off the back of his debut goal against Heracles.
Danilo Al-Saed is on course to miss a second straight game through a torn muscle, although the Iraq international is edging increasingly closer to a comeback.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Van der Hart; Kohlert, Bochniewicz, Hopland, Braude; Olsson, Conde; Sebaoui, Brouwers, Trenskow; Rallis
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Schendelaar; Floranus, Graves, MacNulty, Van der Haar; Van den Berg, El Azzouzi; Namli, Monteiro, Krastev; Vente
We say: Heerenveen 2-0 PEC Zwolle
Heerenveen have been near-perfect in front of their fans this term, and given Zwolle’s poor record on the road, everything points to a routine win for Robin van Persie’s men in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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