Matchday 12 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season gets underway with a meeting between Heerenveen and FC Utrecht at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
Off the back of two straight victories, both teams will be looking to pick up where they left off, which should make for an open and exciting affair.
Match preview
Heerenveen picked up their first league win in over a month courtesy of a 3-1 triumph against FC Volendam when the teams faced off at the Kras Stadion on Sunday.
Kees van Wonderen's men opened the scoring through Sydney van Hooijdonk 24 minutes in, but they were pegged back by Robert Muhren just shy of the interval before second-half goals from Mats Kohlert and Amin Sarr got the job done.
As a result, De Superfriezen remain in seventh place in the Eredivisie table despite picking up just five of the last 12 points available.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit without a defeat in the most recent 10 editions of this fixture across all competitions.
Having recently seen their six-game unbeaten home run come to an end, Saturday's hosts set out to get themselves back on track in front of their fans, where they have not lost back to back matches since February.
FC Utrecht snapped a two-game Eredivisie losing streak by claiming an emphatic 3-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday.
Henk Fraser's men took control of the contest thanks to goals from Daishawn Redan, Anastasios Douvikas and Sean Klaiber before Joshua Kitolano pulled one back in the 84th minute.
With 15 points from their 11 matches so far, the Domstedelingen sit eighth in the league standings, two points adrift of their next opponents ahead of this weekend's clash.
Saturday's visitors have come out on top in three of their last four outings away from home, scoring nine goals in that time but also conceding as many.
Team News
After failing to score in his opening 13 games for Heerenveen, Mats Kohlert has found the back of the net in each of his last two appearances and is one to keep an eye on here.
Joost van Aken made his return to the bench against Volendam last time out but it remains to be seen if the 28-year-old will be deemed fit enough to play a part this weekend.
Utrecht's Dutch trio of Ramon Hendriks, Nick Viergever and Tommy St. Jago are currently sidelined with knee injuries and will not feature in this one.
Mimouni Mahi will miss a 10th match on the bounce through a muscle problem, while Bart Ramselaar remains out for contention for the away side as he continues his spell on the sidelines.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Bochniewicz, Van Ottele, Van Beek; Kohlert, Halilovic, Haye, Van Ewijk; Olsson, Sarr, Van Hooijdonk
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Van der Maarel, Sagnan, Van der Hoorn, Klaiber; Toornstra, Brouwers, Booth, Van de Streek; Redan, Douvikas
We say: Heerenveen 1-1 FC Utrecht
With little to choose between the teams, we anticipate a tight clash which could easily swing either way. That said, we are also backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the sound of the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
