FC Twente, PSV and Ajax have relatively easy matches coming up on Sunday after their European matches on Thursday.
FC Utrecht and FC Groningen start the 27th match round in the Eredivisie with one of the most exciting matches of the weekend on Friday. Groningen hope to recover from a three match losing streak and Utrecht are fighting for their chances to grasp a ticket for the Europa League at the end of the season.
FC Twente, PSV and Ajax have relatively easy matches coming up on Sunday after their European matches on Thursday. Twente, who beat Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0 on Thursday, will meet 17th ranked VVV-Venlo. PSV, who drew 0-0 against Rangers, will take on NEC and Ajax, who lost 1-0 at home against Spartak Moscow, hope to recover against bottom ranked Willem II.
FC Groningen lost its last three League matches and dropped from fourth to fifth place on the table last week. FC Utrecht drew its last six League matches, which is a club record in the Eredivisie. Groningen seems to have lost the battle for Champions League tickets at this stage, but Pieter Huistra’s team is pretty sure of a spot in the play-offs for Europa League tickets. Utrecht for their part are three points short of a play-off spot at the moment.
Ton du Chatinier will miss injured defender Alje Schut on Friday. The Utrecht-coach considers all remaining matches equally important. “There are no easy games anymore, whether it’s for the title, the play-offs or relegation, there’s something at stake for everyone.” Pieter Huistra will have to do without Tim Matavz again. The club top scorer, who hit the target 15 times in 24 matches this season, still suffers from a groin injury.
At home Groningen defeated Utrecht 1-0 thanks to an Andreas Granqvist penalty. If the northerners win again on Friday, they will be the first club to beat Utrecht twice in the league this season.
Excelsior are desperately trying to turn things around and last week they almost grabbed a point at home against league leaders PSV, when they equalized with a dubious spot kick in the final minute. However Balázs Dzsudzsák shot home PSV’s winner in injury time.
Heracles come from a convincing 4-1 win at FC Groningen and Peter Bosz squad scored a total of ten goals in their last two matches. This marks Heracles’ first two match winning streak this season. In the previous season they managed a three and a four match winning streak.
Excelsior won their home match against Heracles 2-1 this season. Mark-Jan Fledderus scored for the visitors first, but Roland Bergkamp and Leen van Steensel helped the home team to a 2-1 victory.
The last Roda JC home win over AZ dates back to 31 January 2004 (3-1). The Limburg squad hopes to turn things around against their AZ rivals on Saturday. If the home team wins, it would mark their 17th consecutive non-losing league match. Roda only set two longer unbeaten streaks in Eredivisie history. Against AZ Laurent Delorge, Jimmy Hempte and Sebastian Svärd will be back from injuries and Pa Modou Kah will return form a suspension.
AZ come from a 4-0 loss at Ajax last week, after they beat title holders FC Twente the week before. Coach Gertjan Verbeek will miss his suspended captain Stijn Schaars and named Nick Viergever as his replacement against Roda. Maarten Martens will return from an injury and Pontus Wernbloom will be back from a suspension.
Earlier this season Roda defeated AZ 2-1 in Alkmaar. Laurent Delorge and Willem Janssen scored for the visitors and Rasmus Elm shot home a free kick for the home team.
“We just have to score, that’s it”, said Ron Jans in the pre-match press conference for Saturday’s league game at Vitesse. The Heerenveen-coach does not want to change much in his squad after the 1-0 loss against Feyenoord last week. “We played well and that’s where we’ll build on this week.”
Heerenveen lost its last three league matches, but the ‘Friezen’ won their home game against Vitesse 2-1 earlier this season. Roy Beerens (pen., 88') and Oussama Assaidi (90+4') gave the match a late turn after Davy Pröpper put Vitesse ahead in the 76th minute.
Vitesse are very unstable under Spanish coach Albert Ferrer. After their devastating 6-1 loss against Heracles Almelo two weeks ago, the Arnhem squad had an easy home win last week against VVV-Venlo.
ADO climbed to fourth place on the table when they defeated NEC 5-1 last week and the last time ADO finished top four in the Eredivisie was in the 1970/71 season, when they finished third. Halfway this season ADO were only tenth on the table.
De Graafschap are well on their way to safety from relegation. Last week the ‘Superboeren’ won a tight match against bottom ranked Willem II, when Rydell Poepon (80'and Hugo Bargas (87') scored after Juha Hakola (78') put Willem II ahead.
Dimitri Bulykin is ADO top scorer and second on the Eredivisie top scorers list behind Björn Vleminckx with 17 goals this season. The Russian striker leveled the total of Harald Berg as most prolific foreigner for ADO in one Eredivisie season. The Norwegian striker scored 17 goals in the 1969/70 season.
Ajax played very well in their Europa League match against Spartak Moscow on Thursday, but the Amsterdam club missed a handful of chances to score and eventually lost 1-0 due to a rare Spartak counter attack.“We did a good job, but we should have scored”, coach Frank de Boer said. “Now it’s up to the players to show the same game against Willem II on Sunday. If they don’t do that, we’ll be in trouble again. But I think we are doing pretty well and if we continue like this, good things will happen.”
De Boer did not want to reveal whether he would include Mounir El Hamdaoui in his squad for the league match against Willem II. The striker missed the match against AZ last week as well as the match against Spartak Moscow, because he’s had a quarrel with the coach during the 5-1 win over RKC Waalwijk in the Dutch Cup semifinal the week before. “Without him, we did well against AZ last week”, De Boer said. “He’s a good player, but he’ll have to proof that when he comes back.”
Bottom-ranked Willem only won seven of 36 Eredivisie home matches against Ajax. This season Ajax beat Willem II 2-0 in Amsterdam. Luis Suarez, who moved to Liverpool in the winter break, scored both goals from penalties.
NAC Breda has visited Feyenoord 43 time before in the Eredivisie and the Breda team never managed to win in ‘De Kuip’. Feyenoord won 30 times and the match ended in a draw 13 times.
Feyenoord will have to do without winger Diego Biseswar and Mario Been will field Krisztian Simon as his substitute. “He is ready”, the coach said about the 19-year-old Hungarian winger.
In Breda NAC defeated Feyenoord 2-0 this season. Robbert Schilder scored both goals for the home team.
FC Twente defeated Zenit St. Petersburg in the Europa League 3-0 on Thursday. “We should not underestimate the match against VVV-Venlo on Sunday however”, said Twente-coach Michel Preud’homme. “This is an important match as well.”
The title holders come from a 2-0 win against NAC Breda last week and they seemed to be back on track after the 2-1 loss against AZ the week before. Preud’homme did not want to reveal his selection for Sunday’s match because he did not know whether Bryan Ruiz will be available again. The Costarican striker missed the match against NAC because of a thigh injury.
VVV-Venlo lost 2-0 against Vitesse last week and the Limburg squad are struggling in their relegation battle, but they still have a five point gap over bottom ranked Willem II.
PSV drew 0-0 in the Europa League against Glasgow Rangers on Thursday, but coach Fred Rutten expects another type of match in the league against NEC on Sunday. “They will play an attacking game, differently from the defensive way Rangers took us on.” PSV will have to do without the suspended Swedisg striker Ola Toivionen against NEC, but the league leaders do not have many injury problems this Sunday.
In Eindhoven NEC gave PSV a good fight this season. John Goossens put NEC up in the 37the minute but Danny Koevermans (46'), Ibrahim Afellay (63') and Ola Toivonen (69’) helped PSV to a 3-1 victory.
Björn Vleminckx is Eredivisie top scorer with 18 goals this season, but NEC did not managed to win the last four matches in which he scored. Vleminckx is only one goal away from equaling NEC’s club record season total of Hans Venneker from the 1967/68 season.
FC Twente, PSV and Ajax have relatively easy matches coming up on Sunday after their European matches on Thursday. Twente, who beat Zenit St. Petersburg 3-0 on Thursday, will meet 17th ranked VVV-Venlo. PSV, who drew 0-0 against Rangers, will take on NEC and Ajax, who lost 1-0 at home against Spartak Moscow, hope to recover against bottom ranked Willem II.
FC Groningen lost its last three League matches and dropped from fourth to fifth place on the table last week. FC Utrecht drew its last six League matches, which is a club record in the Eredivisie. Groningen seems to have lost the battle for Champions League tickets at this stage, but Pieter Huistra’s team is pretty sure of a spot in the play-offs for Europa League tickets. Utrecht for their part are three points short of a play-off spot at the moment.
Ton du Chatinier will miss injured defender Alje Schut on Friday. The Utrecht-coach considers all remaining matches equally important. “There are no easy games anymore, whether it’s for the title, the play-offs or relegation, there’s something at stake for everyone.” Pieter Huistra will have to do without Tim Matavz again. The club top scorer, who hit the target 15 times in 24 matches this season, still suffers from a groin injury.
At home Groningen defeated Utrecht 1-0 thanks to an Andreas Granqvist penalty. If the northerners win again on Friday, they will be the first club to beat Utrecht twice in the league this season.
Excelsior are desperately trying to turn things around and last week they almost grabbed a point at home against league leaders PSV, when they equalized with a dubious spot kick in the final minute. However Balázs Dzsudzsák shot home PSV’s winner in injury time.
Heracles come from a convincing 4-1 win at FC Groningen and Peter Bosz squad scored a total of ten goals in their last two matches. This marks Heracles’ first two match winning streak this season. In the previous season they managed a three and a four match winning streak.
Excelsior won their home match against Heracles 2-1 this season. Mark-Jan Fledderus scored for the visitors first, but Roland Bergkamp and Leen van Steensel helped the home team to a 2-1 victory.
The last Roda JC home win over AZ dates back to 31 January 2004 (3-1). The Limburg squad hopes to turn things around against their AZ rivals on Saturday. If the home team wins, it would mark their 17th consecutive non-losing league match. Roda only set two longer unbeaten streaks in Eredivisie history. Against AZ Laurent Delorge, Jimmy Hempte and Sebastian Svärd will be back from injuries and Pa Modou Kah will return form a suspension.
AZ come from a 4-0 loss at Ajax last week, after they beat title holders FC Twente the week before. Coach Gertjan Verbeek will miss his suspended captain Stijn Schaars and named Nick Viergever as his replacement against Roda. Maarten Martens will return from an injury and Pontus Wernbloom will be back from a suspension.
Earlier this season Roda defeated AZ 2-1 in Alkmaar. Laurent Delorge and Willem Janssen scored for the visitors and Rasmus Elm shot home a free kick for the home team.
“We just have to score, that’s it”, said Ron Jans in the pre-match press conference for Saturday’s league game at Vitesse. The Heerenveen-coach does not want to change much in his squad after the 1-0 loss against Feyenoord last week. “We played well and that’s where we’ll build on this week.”
Heerenveen lost its last three league matches, but the ‘Friezen’ won their home game against Vitesse 2-1 earlier this season. Roy Beerens (pen., 88') and Oussama Assaidi (90+4') gave the match a late turn after Davy Pröpper put Vitesse ahead in the 76th minute.
Vitesse are very unstable under Spanish coach Albert Ferrer. After their devastating 6-1 loss against Heracles Almelo two weeks ago, the Arnhem squad had an easy home win last week against VVV-Venlo.
ADO climbed to fourth place on the table when they defeated NEC 5-1 last week and the last time ADO finished top four in the Eredivisie was in the 1970/71 season, when they finished third. Halfway this season ADO were only tenth on the table.
De Graafschap are well on their way to safety from relegation. Last week the ‘Superboeren’ won a tight match against bottom ranked Willem II, when Rydell Poepon (80'and Hugo Bargas (87') scored after Juha Hakola (78') put Willem II ahead.
Dimitri Bulykin is ADO top scorer and second on the Eredivisie top scorers list behind Björn Vleminckx with 17 goals this season. The Russian striker leveled the total of Harald Berg as most prolific foreigner for ADO in one Eredivisie season. The Norwegian striker scored 17 goals in the 1969/70 season.
Ajax played very well in their Europa League match against Spartak Moscow on Thursday, but the Amsterdam club missed a handful of chances to score and eventually lost 1-0 due to a rare Spartak counter attack.“We did a good job, but we should have scored”, coach Frank de Boer said. “Now it’s up to the players to show the same game against Willem II on Sunday. If they don’t do that, we’ll be in trouble again. But I think we are doing pretty well and if we continue like this, good things will happen.”
De Boer did not want to reveal whether he would include Mounir El Hamdaoui in his squad for the league match against Willem II. The striker missed the match against AZ last week as well as the match against Spartak Moscow, because he’s had a quarrel with the coach during the 5-1 win over RKC Waalwijk in the Dutch Cup semifinal the week before. “Without him, we did well against AZ last week”, De Boer said. “He’s a good player, but he’ll have to proof that when he comes back.”
Bottom-ranked Willem only won seven of 36 Eredivisie home matches against Ajax. This season Ajax beat Willem II 2-0 in Amsterdam. Luis Suarez, who moved to Liverpool in the winter break, scored both goals from penalties.
NAC Breda has visited Feyenoord 43 time before in the Eredivisie and the Breda team never managed to win in ‘De Kuip’. Feyenoord won 30 times and the match ended in a draw 13 times.
Feyenoord will have to do without winger Diego Biseswar and Mario Been will field Krisztian Simon as his substitute. “He is ready”, the coach said about the 19-year-old Hungarian winger.
In Breda NAC defeated Feyenoord 2-0 this season. Robbert Schilder scored both goals for the home team.
FC Twente defeated Zenit St. Petersburg in the Europa League 3-0 on Thursday. “We should not underestimate the match against VVV-Venlo on Sunday however”, said Twente-coach Michel Preud’homme. “This is an important match as well.”
The title holders come from a 2-0 win against NAC Breda last week and they seemed to be back on track after the 2-1 loss against AZ the week before. Preud’homme did not want to reveal his selection for Sunday’s match because he did not know whether Bryan Ruiz will be available again. The Costarican striker missed the match against NAC because of a thigh injury.
VVV-Venlo lost 2-0 against Vitesse last week and the Limburg squad are struggling in their relegation battle, but they still have a five point gap over bottom ranked Willem II.
PSV drew 0-0 in the Europa League against Glasgow Rangers on Thursday, but coach Fred Rutten expects another type of match in the league against NEC on Sunday. “They will play an attacking game, differently from the defensive way Rangers took us on.” PSV will have to do without the suspended Swedisg striker Ola Toivionen against NEC, but the league leaders do not have many injury problems this Sunday.
In Eindhoven NEC gave PSV a good fight this season. John Goossens put NEC up in the 37the minute but Danny Koevermans (46'), Ibrahim Afellay (63') and Ola Toivonen (69’) helped PSV to a 3-1 victory.
Björn Vleminckx is Eredivisie top scorer with 18 goals this season, but NEC did not managed to win the last four matches in which he scored. Vleminckx is only one goal away from equaling NEC’s club record season total of Hans Venneker from the 1967/68 season.
