Preview: Heerenveen vs. FC Twente - prediction, team news, lineups

On the other hand, the away side set out to secure a return to winning ways having been denied a third victory on the spin in their most recent outing.

Match preview

FC Twente had to make do with a point as they were held to a 1-1 stalemate versus AZ Alkmaar in Sunday's meeting between the teams at the AFAS Stadion.

Ron Jans's men fell to behind to Jens Odgaard's opener in the early exchanges of the second half before restoring parity in the 81st minute through Manfred Ugalde.

Having picked up 13 points from a possible 18 so far, the Tukkers are fifth in the league table, five points adrift of Ajax at the top of the pile.

Coming up next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who suffered defeat in the two editions of this fixture during the last campaign.

However, Sunday's visitors have struggled away from home lately, with no wins in their last three outings on the road heading into this weekend's clash.

Heerenveen were left red-faced at the Johan Cruyff ArenA following a 5-0 demolition against defending champions Ajax on Saturday evening.

Kees van Wonderen's men found themselves two down at the interval thanks to goals from Davy Klaassen and Kenneth Taylor before a second-half double from Mohammed Kudus and a Brian Brobbey strike added more gloss to the scoreline.

Nonetheless, De Superfriezen remain ninth in the Eredivisie standings, although with a couple of teams in and around now beginning to bear down on them.

Unbeaten in their last five games on home turf, Sunday's hosts have proven to be a tough nut to crack on in front of their fans and will be aiming to continue in the same vein.

Heerenveen Eredivisie form:

FC Twente Eredivisie form:

FC Twente form (all competitions):

Team News

Julio Pleguezuelo is set to miss a sixth game on the bounce with a muscle problem which the 25-year-old sustained just under a month ago.

Twente are also set to be without the services of Michal Sadilek and Sem Steijn, who are currently down with hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.

Heerenveen's Alex Timossi Andersson is expected to drop to the bench for this one following an underwhelming performance in his first start of the season last time out.

Swedish forward Amin Sarr will be eyeing a recall to the starting XI here as he looks to add to his tally of five direct goal contributions so far.

Heerenveen possible starting lineup:

Noppert; Kaib, Van Aken, Bochniewicz, Van Beek, Van Ewijk; Tahiri, Olsson, Haye; Sarr, Van Hooijdonk

FC Twente possible starting lineup:

Unnerstall; Smal, Propper, Hilgers, Brenet; Brama, Vlap, Zerrouki; Tzolis, Van Wolfswinkel, Cerny

We say: Heerenveen 1-2 FC Twente

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