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

The away side, meanwhile, make the trip to Sittard-Geleen looking to arrest a slump in form which has seen them fail to win any of their last five matches.

Match preview

AZ Alkmaar had to settle for a share of the spoils from their meeting against Almere City which ended in a goalless stalemate at the AFAS Stadion on Saturday.

Despite being in the ascendancy for large spells of the game, Maarten Martens's men were unable to find the all-important winner in a drab affair.

As a result, the Cheeseheads remain fourth in the Eredivisie table, albeit now a whopping eight points behind FC Twente in the race for third place.

Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have been beaten in 13 of the last 14 editions of this fixture across all competitions.

Ahead of a heavyweight clash against Ajax eight days later, Saturday's visitors will be keen to set the tone with a dominant display this weekend.

Fortuna Sittard fell to a disappointing 4-0 defeat against FC Utrecht when the teams went head-to-head at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday.

Danny Buijs's men went into the interval trailing to Taylor Booth's opener midway through the first half before second-half goals from Othman Boussaid, Booth and Sam Lammers sealed the deal.

With 26 points picked up from 21 league matches this term, De Fortunezen sit 13th in the standings, two points shy of a place in the top half.

Unbeaten in five of their most recent six home matches, Sunday's hosts will be confident of securing another positive result in front of their fans.

Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form:

L

L

D

W

D

L

Fortuna Sittard form (all competitions):

W

D

W

D

L

L

AZ Alkmaar Eredivisie form:

L

L

D

D

L

D

AZ Alkmaar form (all competitions):

W

D

D

L

L

D

Team News

AZ's Sem Westerveld remains sidelined with a knee injury which has seen him fail to feature since the early stages of the 2022-23 campaign.

Hobie Verhulst is also unavailable for the visitors as he continues to nurse a shoulder problem, while midfielder Lewis Schouten misses out with a knock.

Twenty-seven-year-old Alen Halilovic has scored three goals in his last five home appearances for Fortuna, making him one to keep an eye on here.

Marko Lazetic remains without an appearance for the hosts in nearly three months, and the forward is still a considerable way off making his return to action.

Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:

Verrips; Voet, Siovas, Guth, Pinto; Ferati, Duarte, Lonwijk; Peterson, Sierhuis, Halilovic

AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:

Ryan; Wolfe, Bazoer, Goes, Sugawara; Belic, Clasie; Van Bommel, Mijnans, Addai; Pavlidis

We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-2 AZ Alkmaar

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