Arguably the pick of the gameweek eight fixtures in the Eredivisie this weekend will see Feyenoord facing off against FC Twente at Stadion Feijenoord on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts have managed 10 points from their first six matches of the season, while the visitors are four points ahead of them, though they have played seven games so far.
Match preview
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Feyenoord have made a relatively poor start to the season by their own standards, as they prepare to enter their seventh game of the campaign having already dropped points in four league games, all by way of draws.
Those stalemates came against Willem II, Sparta Rotterdam, Groningen and NEC Nijmegen, while the two victories they earned were over PEC Zwolle and relegation candidates NAC Breda.
While those results also mean that the Pride of South have maintained an unbeaten record in the top flight this season, most would agree that they should have got more than just 10 points given the calibre of some of the opponents they faced over the period.
New boss Brian Priske did get a boost of confidence in midweek, though, when his side managed a 3-2 comeback victory over Girona in the Champions League, which was also their first points earned in Europe this campaign.
However, that victory was far from convincing as it included two own goals from Yangel Herrera and Ladislav Krejci, the latter of which turned out to be the winner on the night.
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Meanwhile, Twente also made an underwhelming start to the Eredivisie this season with just two points taken from their first three games, but since then, they have shown notable improvement and enter this one unbeaten in their last five in all competitions.
During their unbeaten run the Tukkers picked up three consecutive league wins over Heerenveen, Almere City and NAC, scoring a total of eight goals in those matches while maintaining clean sheets in each.
The other two games over the period were in the Europa League where they came back from a goal down to salvage a point against Manchester United and played out a 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce this past week.
When these two last met in the Eredivisie, the match ended goalless, extending Joseph Oosting's unbeaten record against Feyenoord to three matches, including a victory and two draws.
Team News
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Feyenoord are likely to be missing at least four players for this match due to injury, including long-term absentee Santiago Gimenez, as well as Bart Nieuwkoop, Calvin Stengs and Quilindschy Hartman.
Despite missing a penalty in the first half against Girona in midweek, Ayase Ueda did an excellent job leading the line for the Pride of South and should continue as the front man in this one.
For Twente, Younes Taha is only expected to return to action in the new year as he continues his recovery from a broken leg, and Michal Sadilek is ruled out this weekend, also with a leg injury.
Sam Lammers, Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Sem Steijn have all been among the goals in recent weeks and should keep their places this weekend, while Sayfallah Ltaief is likely to return to the starting 11 after dropping to the bench in midweek.
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Wellenreuther; Lotomba, Beelen, Hancko, Smal; Milambo, Hwang, Timber; Paixao, Ueda, Osman
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Van Rooij, Hilgers, Van Hoorenbeeck, Kuipers; Regeer, Vlap; Van Wolfswinkel, Steijn, Ltaief; Lammers
We say: Feyenoord 1-1 FC Twente
While Feyenoord have the home advantage here, they have yet to find top gear this season and have only won one of their three matches at this venue. Twente, on the other hand, have been steadily improving week on week, and we feel they will be able to take at least a share of the spoils from this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
