Preview: Fortuna Sittard vs. Heerenveen - prediction, team news, lineups

Meanwhile, the visitors make the trip this weekend aiming to complete a league double over their hosts having claimed a 3-0 win in the reverse meeting.

Match preview

Fortuna Sittard claimed a first league victory of 2024 as they narrowly defeated FC Volendam 1-0 at the Kras Stadion on Sunday evening.

Danny Buijs's men took the lead five minutes into the second period through Inigo Cordoba and that was enough to secure all three points in a tight affair.

As a result, the Fortunezen have moved up to 10th place in the Eredivisie table and are now just three points adrift of the last European place.

Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose between the teams over the last nine meetings which have yielded four wins apiece and a draw.

Having recently seen their four-game unbeaten home run come to an end, Saturday's hosts will be keen to avoid suffering back to back defeats for the first time since March.

Heerenveen had to settle for a share of the spoils from their clash against AZ Alkmaar which ended in a 2-2 draw at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday.

Kees van Wonderen's men fell behind to Vangelis Pavlidis's opener but managed to turn the game around through a Jordy Clasie own goal and Luuk Brouwers's strike, before Pawel Bochniewicz inadvertently turned the ball past his own goalkeeper to level the game late on.

With 21 points picked up from 19 matches this term, De Superfriezen sit 12th in the standings, two points adrift of a place in the top half.

Currently with the second-worst defensive record on the road, Saturday's visitors will need to tighten up at the back to avoid another fruitless outing away from home.

Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form:

W

W

L

L

D

W

Fortuna Sittard form (all competitions):

L

W

L

W

D

W

Heerenveen Eredivisie form:

W

L

L

D

L

D

Heerenveen form (all competitions):

L

L

L

D

L

D

Team News

Fortuna's Deroy Duarte is currently on international duty with Cape Verde at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, ruling him out of contention for this one.

Inigo Cordoba recently opened his Eredivisie account for the season at the 18th time of asking last time out and the forward will be looking to pick up where he left off.

Ion Nicolaescu remains out of contention for Heerenveen through a muscle problem which has seen him fail to feature since late December.

Having been knocked out from the Asian Cup with the Iraq national team, 21-year-old Hussein Ali could return to action for the away side this weekend.

Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:

Verrips; Ferati, Dijks, Siovas, Guth, Pinto; Lonwijk, Rosier, Halilovic; Cordoba, Sierhuis

Heerenveen possible starting lineup:

Noppert; Braude, Van Beek, Bochniewicz, Kohlert; Van Ottele, Olsson; Walemark, Brouwers, Sahraoui; Van Amersfoort

We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-0 Heerenveen

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