The penultimate gameweek of 2024 in the Eredivisie will kick off at MAC³PARK Stadion with PEC Zwolle playing hosts to Willem II on Friday night.
Both these sides are locked level on 16 points apiece and will be looking to widen the gap between themselves and the drop before heading into the New Year.
Match preview
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After a slow start to the season when they managed just eight points from their first 10 games, PEC Zwolle are ending the year much more positively, having doubled their points tally from their first 10 matches in their last five.
During that period, Blauwvingers won both their home games against Fortuna Sittard and Sparta Rotterdam, and played out draws on the road with Go Ahead Eagles and Groningen, while the only defeat they conceded was against high-flyers Ajax.
Indeed, Johnny Jansen's side have done their best work here in Zwolle this term, having earned 12 of their 16 points at MAC³PARK Stadion, nine of which came in their last four matches at this venue.
The hosts have also scored the vast majority of their goals this season on their home patch (11 of their 15), while the last time they failed to find the back of the net here was in mid-February when they lost 1-0 to Almere City.
Blauwvingers have been the better side in this fixture in recent times, having won the last encounter 2-0 back in 2022, which extended their unbeaten run against Willem II to three in a row (W2 D1 L0).
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In complete contrast, Willem II made a very good start to their top-flight campaign, earning eight points from their five games, but it then took them the next 10 matches to find their next eight points.
The Tricolores are coming into this match now looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat following losses to Groningen and Heerenveen by 2-0 and 2-1 scorelines respectively.
Despite those results, Peter Maes's men still possess a fairly impressive defensive record, having only conceded 18 goals - the third-best in the division - two fewer than second-placed Utrecht have shipped to date.
The visitors have earned exactly half their points on the road this season, but notably, they took points away from both Feyenoord and AZ before two very resilient performances against Utrecht and Ajax which they lost by only a single goal.
Team News
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PEC Zwolle came away from their stalemate against Groningen last weekend unscathed; therefore, the only players missing for Jansen this week are long-term absentees Tristan Gooijer and Samir Lagsir.
Davy van den Berg made his first appearance since his suspension last week and will be hoping to make the starting 11, while we could see Younes Namli, who has missed the last two games, return to the squad in this one.
The visitors also have two long-term absentees at present in Niels van Berkel and Dani Mathieu, both of whom have undergone knee surgery and are unlikely to feature anytime soon.
Winger Amar Fatah and right-back Valentino Vermeulen have both missed the last five games with a groin and muscle injury respectively, and they are flagged as major doubts for this weekend's trip to Zwolle.
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Schendelaar; Floranus, Graves, MacNulty, Van der Haar; Fichtinger, El Azzouzi; Velanas, Monteiro, Mbayo; Vente
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Didillon-Hodl; Tirpan, Behounek, St. Jago, Sigurgeirsson; Bosch, Lachkar; Doodeman, Sandra, Meerveld; Bokila
We say: PEC Zwolle 1-1 Willem II
While PEC Zwolle have the better recent record coming into this match, Willem II have delivered several good performances on the road this season and have not lost two away games in succession to date.
There is very little to choose between these sides, and we feel there will be nothing to split them at the final whistle of this match.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
