Round 31 of the 2023-24 Eredivisie season sees PEC Zwolle and Heracles face off against each other at the MAC3PARK Station on Sunday morning.
Both teams are separated only on goal difference in the league standings heading into this weekend's clash, which should be a keenly-contested affair.
Match preview
PEC Zwolle had to settle for a share of the spoils from their meeting against NEC Nijmegen in a 2-2 draw at Stadion de Goffert on April 14.
Johnny Jansen's men opened the scoring courtesy of Thomas Lam's early opener before a quickfire double from Koki Ogawa turned the game on its head, only for Odysseus Velanas to level matters midway through the second half.
As a result, De Blauwvingers sit 13th Eredivisie table and are mathematically safe from automatic relegation, sitting 13 points clear of the bottom two with just four games to go.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose between the teams over the last 14 meetings, which have yielded six wins apiece and two stalemates.
Having recently ended a four-game home winless run, Sunday's hosts now go in search of consecutive victories in front of their fans for the first time since July.
Heracles saw their two-game winning run snapped by Heerenveen as they fell to a comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Heerenveen at the Asito Stadium on April 14.
Erwin van de Looi's men went into the break trailing to Che Nunnely's opener before Pelle van Amersfoort sealed the deal two minutes from time.
With 32 points picked up from 30 matches so far, De Heraclieden sit 14th in the standings, a whopping eight points clear of the relegation playoff place.
Off the back of a first away triumph in six matches at Sparta Rotterdam earlier this month, Sunday's visitors will be keen to pick up where they left off on the road.
Team News
Zwolle trio Samir Lagsir, Ferdy Druijf and Ryan Thomas will not feature here as they continue to battle with respective knee injuries.
Zico Buurmeester and Nick Fichtinger are also ruled out of contention for the hosts due to ankle and leg injuries respectively.
Midfielder Younes Namli was directly involved in both of his side's goals last time out and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Stijn Bultman and Emil Hansson are guaranteed absentees for Heracles this weekend, while Sava-Arangel Cestic is yet to fully recuperate from an ankle problem.
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Schendelaar; Czyborra, Lam, Kersten, Van Polen; Krastev, El Azzouzi; Van der Water, Namli, Fontana; Thy
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Brouwer; Bakboord, Sonnenberg, Leerdam, Oppegard; De Keersmaecker, Vejinovic; Hrustic, Scheperman, Limbombe; Hornkamp
We say: PEC Zwolle 1-2 Heracles
As shown by their respective league standings, there is little separating the teams, and this weekend's clash could easily swing either way. That said, we are backing the away side to get the job done, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
