Fortuna Sittard and Almere City get the ball rolling in gameweek two of the 2024-25 Eredivisie campaign with a meeting at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Friday.
The home side secured maximum points from their season curtain-raiser last time out, while the visitors head into this one looking to bounce back from an opening-day defeat.
Match preview
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Despite being on the back foot for large spells of the contest, a mixture of resolute defending and superb counter-attacking got the job done for Fortuna Sittard in their 2-0 triumph over Go Ahead Eagles at De Adelaarshorst on Sunday afternoon.
That was a perfect response to a disappointing pre-season for Danny Buijs's men, who were beaten in three of their final four warm-up outings—including a 3-2 loss to Eerste Divisie side De Graafschap.
The Fortunezen have now won a league game for the first time since claiming a 3-1 victory over PEC Zwolle on March 16, having failed to come out on top in any of their final eight games of the 2023-24 campaign.
Fortuna's clean sheet last time out was their third in the last four league outings, with the only goal conceded during that time coming in a 1-1 stalemate against PSV Eindhoven.
One of seven teams to have won their opening fixture, Friday's hosts will now set out to make it six points from a possible six to start the season ahead of next weekend's trip to Amsterdam to face off against Ajax.
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Almere City gave a good account of themselves on their return to Eredivisie action, albeit all to no avail as they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat against AZ Alkmaar at the Yanmar Stadion on Saturday.
In a feisty affair marred by gross misconduct that saw three players sent off across both sides, Ibrahim Sadiq's fourth-minute opener was enough to see off the threat of Hedwiges Maduro's men.
De Zwarte Schapen endured a poor end to last season, picking up just seven points from the final 36 available, and have kicked off the new campaign empty-handed to stretch their winless league run to 13 games.
Currently in need of a pick-me-up, Almere will be keen to get themselves back on track to avoid being on the periphery of relegation danger just as they were for large spells of last season.
With little time to dwell on last week's defeat, Friday's visitors make the journey to Sittard having lost on each of their last three visits—most recently in the second round of matches last term.
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Team News
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Baptiste Guillaume and Ricardo Visus are both suspended for Almere City here after receiving red cards in their respective official debuts against AZ.
Faiz Mattoir and Hamdi Akujobi both came on as second-half substitutes in the aforementioned game and look set to be the biggest beneficiaries of Guillaume and Visus's absence.
Sittard's Kaj Sierhuis has been out of contention since early May due to a knee injury, and the forward is a guaranteed absentee for Friday's clash.
Frenchman Makan Aiko wasted no time in opening his account for the visitors with a clinching goal against Go Ahead Eagles, making him one to keep an eye on.
Latest summer arrival Samuel Bastien will be pushing to play a more prominent role in this one off the back of a brief cameo for the 27-year-old last time out.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Dijks, Guth, Adewoye, Pinto; Fosso, Rosier, Mitrovic; Peterson, Aiko, Halilovic
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Zagaritis, Akujobi, Jacobs, Floranus; Van de Kamp, Balboa, Resink; Robinet, Mattoir, Hansen
We say: Fortuna Sittard 2-0 Almere City
Buoyed by their triumph over Go Ahead Eagles, Fortuna Sittard will be feeling confident about themselves heading into Friday's meeting.
Standing in their way is an Almere City side low on morale, and we can see the hosts cruising to a relatively routine victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
