Preview:FC Twente vs Telstar - prediction, team news, lineups

FC Twente and Telstar kick off gameweek 12 of the 2025-26 Eredivisie season with a meeting at De Grolsch Veste on Friday evening.

Both teams had to settle for a share of the spoils in their most recent outings and will aim to go one better this time around.

Match preview

After picking up three league victories on the bounce between September 19 and October 5, Twente have now failed to win any of their subsequent three Eredivisie matches off the back of a 1-1 draw against Groningen last time out.

John van den Brom's men had their backs against the wall for large spells of the contest and were a tad lucky to have come away with a point despite opening the scoring through Kristian Hlynsson within two minutes of the second period.

Having managed just two points from the last nine available, the Tukkers have dropped down to ninth in the Eredivisie table, albeit outside the last European place only on goal difference.

Central to Twente's recent struggles have been their defensive woes as they have now gone 13 matches across all competitions since their last clean sheet, which came against RKC Waalwijk back in July.

Nonetheless, Twente will be confident of maintaining their perfect record against Telstar, having come out on top in each of the previous three meetings, most recently a 3-1 triumph in the 2023 KNVB Beker.

Back on home turf for the first time since a 3-2 defeat to Ajax, Friday's hosts now set out to get back to winning ways in front of their fans, where they have not lost back-to-back competitive matches in four years.

Telstar managed to snap a run of three consecutive league defeats in their 2-2 stalemate against SBV Excelsior when the sides went head-to-head at BUKO Stadion on Saturday.

Still, Anthony Correia's men will be feeling more disappointment than relief to have come away with a point after storming to a two-goal lead in the opening half hour and missing a penalty in the second half before they were pegged back.

De Witte Leeuwen have had a tough return to the Dutch top flight and are currently 17th in the standings, two points from safety, but could climb as high as three places with a victory in their next outing.

However, Telstar have managed just one away league victory this term, although it did come at the home of reigning champions PSV Eindhoven back in August's meeting, which ended 2-0.

With six of their 21 goals conceded so far coming in the final 15 minutes of matches, Friday's visitors will need to be wary of the relentless nature of their hosts, who have scored 30% (6/20) of their league goals during that time span.

FC Twente Eredivisie form:

FC Twente form (all competitions):

Telstar Eredivisie form:

Telstar form (all competitions):

Team News

Mathias Kjolo has been out with a knee issue since Twente's round two fixture against PSV, and the Norwegian is still a considerable way off returning to action.

Twenty-two-year-old Max Bruns also misses out for the home side with a muscle issue, as Daouda Weidmann and Mees Hilgers both remain unavailable.

Neville Ogidi Nwankwo has sat out Telstar's last two matches with a muscle problem that has left his involvement on Friday currently hanging in the balance.

Tyrone Owusu has racked up three direct goal contributions in his last two appearances, making the midfielder one to keep an eye on here.

FC Twente possible starting lineup:

Unnerstall; Van Rooy, Proppeer, Nijstad, Rots; Zeerrouli, Van den Belt; Rots, Hlynsson, Orjasaeter; Van Wolfswinkel

Telstar possible starting lineup:

Koeman; Bakker, Offerhaus, Koswal; Hardeveld, Rossen, Owusu, Noslin; Brouwer, Van de Kamp; Tejan

We say: FC Twente 2-1 Telstar

Neither of the teams can lay claim to being solid at the back, and Friday's game is shaping up to be an open and end-to-end affair with chances at both ends.

That said, we can see Twente fending off the challenge of Telstar to claim maximum points come the close of proceedings.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.