Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Eredivisie clash between FC Volendam and PEC Zwolle, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two teams in dire need of a pick-me-up go head to head at the Kras Stadion on Saturday as FC Volendam entertain the challenge of PEC Zwolle.
Both teams are currently on a run of three straight defeats and neither will want to come away empty-handed from this weekend’s encounter.
Match preview
FC Volendam simply had no answer to AZ Alkmaar’s attack as they fell to a 3-0 loss when the teams locked horns at the AFAS Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
Matthias Kohler‘s men went behind to Ruben van Bommel‘s opener before quickfire second-half goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Bruno Martins-Indi put the result beyond doubt.
Consequently, Het Andere Oranje remain bottom but one in the Eredivisie table, four points adrift of safety despite having played one game more.
Coming up next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who are winless in the most recent three editions of this fixture off the back of five straight wins prior.
Having let in five goals across their last two matches on home turf, Saturday’s hosts will need to keep things at the back to stand a good chance of coming out on top here.
PEC Zwolle narrowly came up short as they were on the receiving end of a 1-0 defeat against RKC Waalwijk in Saturday’s encounter at the MAC3PARK Stadion.
Johnny Jansen‘s men found themselves down to Filip Stevanovic‘s strike but managed to restore parity just shy of the half-hour mark through Davy Van Den Berg before Chris Lokesa grabbed the winner in the early exchanges of the second half.
With 14 points picked up from their 13 matches so far, The Bluefingers sit 11th in the standings, albeit just one point outside the top half.
Following defeats in each of their last three games on the road by a combined score of 8-1, Saturday’s visitors will be keen to turn their away fortunes around.
FC Volendam Eredivisie form:
PEC Zwolle Eredivisie form:
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Team News
Nineteen-year-old Joey Antonioli remains out of contention for Volendam through a muscle injury which he sustained in the first week of October.
The home side will also be without the services of Koen Blommestijn and Luke Le Roux, although the former is closing in on a return to action.
Samir Lagsir is yet to feature this season for Zwolle due to a long-term knee problem and the midfielder is still a considerable way off making his comeback.
Dutchman Davy van den Berg has found the back of the net in two of his last three matches for the visitors, making him one to keep an eye on here.
FC Volendam possible starting lineup:
Backhaus; Cox, Flint, Benamar, Buur; Mirani, Twigt; Kuol, De Haan, Ould-Chikh; Muhren
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Schendelaar; Van Polen, Kersten, Lam, Garcia; Van Den Berg, Thomas, Buurmeester; Namli, Thy, Reijnders
We say: FC Volendam 1-2 PEC Zwolle
The teams boast similar attacking records heading into this one but Zwolle have fared better defensively and we just about fancy them 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.