Heerenveen will be looking to make an immediate return to winning ways in front of their fans when they welcome Go Ahead Eagles to the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
Having come out on top in both of last season's league meetings, this weekend's visitors will now go in search of a third straight triumph against their hosts to end a three-game winless streak.
Match preview
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In keeping with their away woes this term, Heerenveen fell well short of the challenge posed by Fortuna Sittard in Saturday's meeting at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion, which ended in a comprehensive 3-0 rout.
Loreintz Rosier's opener in the 10th minute left Robin van Persie's men in an all too familiar position of trailing on the road before Rosier doubled his tally to seal the deal shortly after Kristoffer Peterson had struck midway through the second half.
It is now just one win from De Superfriezen's last five league outings, with their only other victory since September 27 coming in last month's KNVB Beker tie against lower league side IJsselmeervogels.
While Van Persie continues to look for a solution to his early struggles as a manager in his debut season, his job is not thought to be under any immediate threat with only a third of the current campaign gone already.
A tally of 11 points from as many league matches has Heerenveen sitting 14th in the Eredivisie table, although a defeat this weekend could see them drop into the bottom three depending on results elsewhere.
A home clash usually spells good tidings for Sunday's hosts, who have picked up three wins and two draws from five matches on their own patch so far, but their form on the road will need to improve if they are to pull clear of relegation danger.
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For the second week running, Go Ahead Eagles showed great bounce-back-ability to recover from a slow start and force a share of the spoils in their 2-2 stalemate against PEC Zwolle at De Adelaarshorst on Sunday afternoon.
Like in their game against AZ Alkmaar seven days earlier, Paul Simonis's men found themselves down by two following strikes from Davy Van Den Berg and Jamiro Monteiro before Oliver Edvardsen and Enric Llansana restored parity with second-half goals.
Since suffering a 3-0 defeat to defending champions PSV Eindhoven, the pride of the IJssel Kowet are now unbeaten in six of their subsequent seven outings, picking up 12 points from a possible 21.
The aforementioned loss was Go Ahead Eagles' only defeat on the road dating back to September 1, after which they beat Sparta Rotterdam and Groningen on enemy territory prior to their 2-2 draw at AZ Alkmaar.
Heading into Sunday's trip, the visitors have moved back up into eighth place in the standings and remain firmly in the hunt to compete for a place in the Conference League playoffs, having been knocked out of contention for this year's tournament by SK Brann earlier this season.
Team News
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Thirty-year-old Mickey van der Hart is Heerenveen's only guaranteed absentee for this one as he continues to battle an injury that will rule him out for a couple of weeks more.
Jacob Trenskow has recorded a goal or an assist in five of his last seven matches for the home side and will be looking to come up with the goods once again.
Soren Tengstedt is set to sit out a fifth consecutive game for Go Ahead Eagles with a knee problem, although the forward is drawing increasingly closer to making a return to action.
Having been handed a 32-minute cameo last time out, Dean James was involved in a larger capacity compared to his first game back from injury, but a starting appearance remains out of the question for now.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Kohlert, Bochniewicz, Hopland, Braude; Conde, Van Ee; Trenskow, Brouwers, Smans; Nicolaescu
Go Ahead Eagles possible starting lineup:
Plogmann; Deijl, Nauber, Kramer, Adelgaard; Linthorst, Llansana; Adekanye, Breum, O Edvardsen; V Edvardsen
We say: Heerenveen 2-1 Go Ahead Eagles
Heerenveen have been abysmal away from home but continue to just about keep their head above water thanks to their solid home form.
Anything less than a win this weekend would be unideal for the home side, and we are backing them to narrowly edge out their visitors in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
