Fortuna Sittard will be hoping to return to winning ways in the Eredivisie this weekend when they take on Sparta Rotterdam at Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
Three points for the hosts will allow them to remain in the top eight in the league standings, while a win for the visitors will see them pull four points clear of the bottom three.
Match preview
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Fortuna Sittard are having a progressive season, as they have already won as many games this term as they did across the entire last campaign (nine), while they trail their 38-point tally from 2023-24 by just six.
However, Fortunezen were not in the best form heading into the international break and lost their last match 1-0 away to Groningen after conceding a Brynjolfur Willumsson goal just moments before the final whistle.
That result marked Danny Buijs's side's sixth defeat in their last nine league games (W2 D1 L6), which is a notable drop-off in performance after losing only twice in 11 top-flight matches before that (W5 D4 L2).
The one area that Fortuna will be looking to improve over the final stretch of the season is in defence, having already shipped 43 goals this season, which is the fifth-most of any team in the division after 26 games.
The hosts have played 12 home games this season and have split their results six wins and six losses, but they have lost three of their last four at Fortuna Sittard Stadion and conceded two or more goals in each of those defeats.
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Meanwhile, after failing to win a single league match between October and the end of last year, Sparta Rotterdam have experienced an improvement in results in 2025, which has helped them open some daylight between themselves and the automatic relegation spots.
De Kasteelheren went into the international break off the back of a 1-1 draw at home to PEC Zwolle, which extended their unbeaten run to three matches, while they have only lost two of their nine league games in 2025 (W3 D4 L2).
The most notable improvement made by the side since the arrival of Maurice Steijn has come in attack, as they have now scored 11 goals in their last nine matches after only netting six in their preceding 10.
However, the visitors will now be looking to improve their away record, having failed to win any of their last three league matches on the road, while only managing a single away victory since mid-September.
Team News
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Fortuna Sittard will be without the services of Cape Verde international Alessio da Cruz this weekend, with the left-winger forced to serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
The hosts also have three injury absentees for this match, including Daley Sinkgraven (knee), Ramazan Bayram (knee) and long-term absentee Onur Demir, who is not expected to return until May.
Sparta Rotterdam have just one known absentee this weekend in the form of Joshua Kitolano, who is still recovering from a hamstring issue but is expected to resume training in the next couple of weeks.
Tobias Lauritsen scored three goals in as many games leading up to the international break, and he will almost certainly continue to lead the line in front of Ajax loanee Kristian Hlynsson in the number 10 role.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Pinto, Van Ottele, Guth, Dahlhaus; Rosier, Michut, Fosso; Aiko, Radulovic, Bullaude
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Olij; Bakari, Young, Eerdhuijzen, Van Aanholt; Eiting, Zechiel; Mito, Hlynsson, Van Bergen; Lauritsen
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam
While the hosts have had a better season to this point, the visitors were enjoying a solid run of results ahead of the international break and are unbeaten in their last five matches against this opponent.
The reverse fixture between these sides ended in a 1-1 draw back in September last year, and we feel that they will end up sharing the spoils in this one as well.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
