Heerenveen and Heracles will draw the curtain on Saturday's round of matches in gameweek 26 of the 2024-25 Eredivisie season with a meeting at the Abe Lenstra Stadion.
Both teams head into this one off the back of respective defeats last time out and will be keen to secure an immediate return to winning ways this weekend.
Match preview
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After putting AZ Alkmaar to the sword courtesy of a 3-1 triumph six days prior, Heerenveen went in search of a second straight giant-killing when they visited the Philips Stadion to face off against reigning champions PSV Eindhoven.
Goals either side of the half-time whistle from Ismael Saibari and Guus Til left Henk Brugge's men with a mountain to climb, although they did manage to halve the deficit through Levi Smans 18 minutes from time.
Dropping out of the final Conference League playoff spot, De Superfriezen are ninth in the Eredivisie table after their opening 25 matches with a tally of 30 points, two behind Fortuna Sittard and as many clear of Groningen.
Having now lost ex-manager Robin van Persie at such a crucial stage of the season, Heerenveen must now rally themselves together for the final knockings of the season if they are to end a 15-year continental drought.
Lying in store next for them is the challenge of facing off against an opposing outfit that have picked up just one victory from the last five encounters involving the teams stretching back to December 2021.
However, that solitary victory did come in the most recent affair back in September, when Saturday's hosts fell to an agonising 2-1 defeat against their visitors in this season's reverse fixture at the Asito Stadium.
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Off the back of going eight matches without a defeat between January 11 and February 8, Heracles have now been beaten for the third time in four games across all competitions after Saturday's 1-0 loss to Fortuna Sittard.
Drawing a second consecutive blank away from home, Erwin van de Looi's men were undone by a Kristoffer Peterson penalty midway through the second half which proved to be enough to separate the sides.
While they sit 12th in the league standings, De Poupers are just three points above the drop zone and have work to do if they are to avoid returning to the Eerste Divisie for the first time since regaining top-flight promotion back in 2022.
Of all the teams outside the top seven, only NEC have found the back of the net on more occasions than Heracles, who have, however, often been found wanting at the other end with just four clean sheets recorded this term.
With games against four of the current top six sides still to come after Saturday's affair, the visitors could really do with all three points this weekend as they seek to steer clear of the bottom three heading into the final knockings of the season.
Team News
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Pawel Bochniewicz is still unavailable for Heerenveen due to a knee problem and is unlikely to return to action this season having not featured since last November.
Mickey van der Hart and Jacob Trenskow are also ruled out for the home side with arm and muscle problems respectively, although the former could make his comeback after the upcoming international break.
Nineteen-year-old Sava-Arangel Cestic is still awaiting his first outing of the campaign as he continues to battle with a broken ankle, while Nicolai Laursen is down with a damaged knee.
With eight goals and two assists to his name this term, leading goalscorer Luka Kulenovic has missed the last two games but could be back in time to feature for the away side this weekend.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Kohlert, Hopland, Kersten, Braude; Linday, Van Ee, Smans; Sebaoui, Lukovic, Jahanbakhsh
Heracles possible starting lineup:
De Keijzer; Rots, Hoogma, Mirani, Wieckhoff; De Keersmaecker, Bruns, Scheperman; Talvitie, Hornkamp, Podgoreanu
We say: Heerenveen 1-1 Heracles
There is little to pick between Saturday's opponents, and the clash could really swing either way, so we are backing the teams to cancel each other out and settle for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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