Preview: Heracles vs. Willem II - prediction, team news, lineups

Two sides who recently had their mini unbeaten streaks ended clash at the Erve Asito on Saturday when Heracles play host to Willem II.

The hosts are 9th in the Eredivisie table with 36 points, while the visitors' tally of 22 points means that they are out of the drop zone only on goal difference.

Match preview

Heracles were beaten for the first time in five league games as PSV Eindhoven claimed a comprehensive 3-0 win when the sides met at the Philips Stadion on Sunday.

First-half goals from Donyell Malen and Denzel Dumfries set PSV on their way to victory, before Mohammed Ihattaren put the icing on the cake in stoppage time.

Frank Wormuth's men missed out on the chance to leapfrog Twente into eighth place following the latter's defeat to Vitesse the previous day.

Next up for the Heraclieden is the visit of Willem II, who ran riot in a 4-0 rout in September's reverse fixture in Tilburg.

However, Saturday's hosts have only lost one of their last five home matches against the away side, winning the other four by a combined score of 10-4.

Willem II's run of five games without a defeat was brought to an end by AZ Alkmaar who came out victorious by a 1-0 scoreline on Saturday.

Zeljko Petrovic's men had a man advantage for all but five minutes of the match, but they were unable to make it count as Albert Gudmundsson's second-half effort was enough to seal the deal.

The Tricolores failed to capitalise on an opportunity to pull further away from the relegation zone, and they remain level on points with 16th-placed VVV-Venlo.

With six games left to play, they are still in a relatively good position to beat the drop which was unimaginable barely two months ago.

Team News

Freek Heerkens will miss the game as he remains out with a thigh problem, through which he has sat out his side's last 11 fixtures.

Joining him on the list of absentees for the away side is Miquel Nelom, whose season has been prematurely ended with a knee injury.

Vangelis Pavlidis netted a brace in the reverse fixture, but the goals have dried up of late with only four goals in his last 24 Eredivisie outings.

Ismail Azzaoui is unavailable for the match as he recently picked up a knee problem which kept him out of the loss to PSV last time out.

Rai Vloet has found the back of the net in three home games running, but Saturday's visitors have only conceded one goal on the road in that time.

Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Fadiga, Propper, Rente, Quagliata; Schoofs, Kioumourtzoglou, De La Torre; Kutucu, Vloet, Burgzorg

Willem II possible starting lineup:
Brondeel; Kohn, Peters, Holmen, Owusu; Kohlert, Selahi, Spieringhs, Nunnely; Pavlidis, Okyere Wriedt

We say: Heracles 1-0 Willem II

Both sides will be looking to return to winning ways off the back of respective defeats last time out. The visitors were victorious in the last meeting between the teams, but we expect the hosts to secure the win this time by the slenderest of margins.