FC Utrecht will continue their hunt for a top-three spot in the 2024-25 Eredivisie season when they welcome Heerenveen to Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday.
The away side battled hard to force a share of the spoils in the reverse fixture between the sides and will be looking to go one better this weekend.
Match preview
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Gunning for three consecutive league wins for the first time since October, Utrecht suffered late heartbreak en route to a 1-0 defeat against NEC Nijmegen when the teams went head-to-head two Saturdays ago.
Despite being in the ascendancy for the majority of the contest, Ron Jans's men saw all their efforts to open the scoring end in futility before they were undone at the other end by a Vito van Crooy penalty eight minutes from time.
On a weekend which saw both of the top two teams pick up points, Utrecht's already faint title hopes were dealt a further blow as they now sit nine points shy of PSV Eindhoven and a further six adrift of leaders Ajax.
However, De Domstedelingen remain in the driving seat in the race for the final Champions League spot but will have to fend off competition from Feyenoord, Twente, AZ Alkmaar and Go Ahead Eagles, all of whom are within at most five points of this weekend's hosts.
Currently on a run of just one victory from their last seven home matches across all competitions, Utrecht will need to pick up the pace on home turf in this first of four remaining matches in front of their fans this term.
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Heerenveen have enjoyed a mixed campaign, all things considered, from battling relegation to pushing for a place in Europe, which they are still in for with eight games left to play before the season winds down completely.
A 1-1 stalemate against Heracles last time out saw the West Frisian outfit avoid defeat in the final instalment of their three outings under interim manager Henk Brugge, who has since been replaced by Robin Veldman.
Previously of the Club Brugge under-19s, Veldman is back in Dutch football for the first time since his four-year spell with the Ajax youth team in 2021, after which he took his managerial career to Belgium.
Given his side's remaining schedule, Veldman has a glorious opportunity to lead Heerenveen back to the continental front for the first time since the 2010 Europa League under the then tutelage of Jan de Jonge.
However, Sunday's visitors will need to put their house in order at the back as they await a first clean sheet in 10 competitive matches since the turn of the year, during which they have managed just two victories.
Team News
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Utrecht duo Yoann Cathline and Rickson Van Hees are yet to fully recuperate from knee injuries, while Can Bozdogan continues his personal battle with a muscle problem.
Having not made an appearance since mid-January due to an ankle issue, Niklas Vesterlund is still a considerable way off returning to action for the hosts and could have played his final game of the season already.
Pawel Bochniewicz is still unavailable for Heerenveen due to a knee problem and is unlikely to make his comeback before the close of the current campaign.
Luuk Brouwers and Jacob Trenskow are also ruled out for this weekend's visitors with respective muscle problems, although the latter could be back in contention in about a fortnight.
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Horemans, Didden, Viergever, El Karouani; Iqbal, Toornstra, Aaronson, Fraulo; Ohio, Haller
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Braude, Kersten, Hopland, Kohlert; Van Ee, Smans, Linday; Jahanbakhsh, Lukovic, Sebaoui
We say: FC Utrecht 3-1 Heerenveen
This fixture has often delivered huge entertainment value in recent years, and we expect more of the same this weekend.
That said, we are also backing the home side to emerge victorious at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
