Preview: FC Utrecht vs FC Volendam - prediction, team news, lineups

Looking to get back to winning ways, FC Utrecht will play FC Volendam in round nine of the 2025-26 Eredivisie on Saturday at Stadion Galgenwaard.

Ron Jans’s team are without a win in six fixtures across all competitions, but they will view themselves as favourites to win this weekend against struggling Volendam, who have only one victory in eight league fixtures so far.

Match preview

Fans of Utrecht will probably believe that they deserved at least a point from their 3-2 loss to Feyenoord in their last league outing before the international break.

They played catch-up for most of the encounter at De Kuip, but they managed to equalise for the second time in the fixture courtesy of a John-Derry strike in the 83rd minute, before Ayase Ueda’s second goal of the game sealed the win for the hosts.

That defeat consequently stretched their winless run in the league to four matches, leaving them ninth in the standings with 10 points, after recording three victories, a draw, and four losses.

The results the home side have posted in the first eight rounds of the season are a far cry from the outcomes recorded in the same period of the 2024-25 season, when they won seven and drew one, scoring 15 goals in the process.

Although they have scored 15 times in the Eredivisie this term, they have been breached 10 times already, but what is more worrying is that half of that tally was conceded in their last two league outings against Heerenveen (2) and Feyenoord (3).

While Jan will be concerned about his rearguard and the overall form of his charges, the Cathedral citizens will be confident of claiming their third victory at home, and their first league triumph in just over a month.

Going up against Utrecht at this time could give the struggling visitors some hope for a positive result this weekend, considering that they recorded their first victory in their penultimate league fixture.

Rick Kruys’s team defeated Zwolle 2-1 on matchday seven, but they could not keep up the energy, as they fell to a narrow 1-0 loss to Fortuna Sittard in the following fixture at the beginning of October.

Despite having only one victory to their name, the visitors are 13th in the table with seven points from eight matches.

Since gaining promotion to the Dutch top flight, Het Andere Oranje have yet to keep a clean sheet, having been breached in their last 18 fixtures across all competitions.

More so, the away side have been atrocious in their travels this season, failing to win in four fixtures on the road since the start of the campaign.

FC Utrecht Eredivisie form:

FC Utrecht form (all competitions):

FC Volendam Eredivisie form:

FC Volendam form (all competitions):

Team News

Yoann Cathline has been a long-term absentee for the home side, and he is likely to remain on the sidelines for this fixture on Saturday.

Dani de Wit (foot), Victor Jensen (hamstring), and Niklas Vesterlund (knee) are all ruled out of this encounter.

After coming off against Brann in their last European outing, Mike van der Hoorn was not listed for the clash against Feyenoord, and he remains doubtful for this match.

David Min, who has three goals to his name already, will be raring to go for a chance to increase his tally this weekend.

Souffian El Karouani is one to look out for in this fixture, as his knack for going forward from his position at left-back has yielded four assists in eight matches.

For the visiting side, Anthony Descotte was rumoured to be close to a return in his team’s last league game, after weeks out due to an ankle injury, but he was not named in the squad, meaning he is likely to sit out this contest.

Although Henk Veerman fired blanks when he led the line for the visiting side in their last league exertion, he is still in line to spearhead the search for goals against Utrecht.

FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:

Barkas; Horemans, Didden, Viergever, El Karouani; Engwanda, Iqbal; Rodriguez, Zechiel, Blake; Haller

FC Volendam possible starting lineup:

Van oevelen; Ugwu, Amevor, Verschuren, Leliendal; Yah, Bukala; Kuwas, Van Cruijsen, Ideho; Veerman

We say: FC Utrecht 2-1 FC Volendam

This fixture has goals written all over it, considering the propensity of both teams to find the back of the net. That, coupled with their struggles in defence, means there is a potential for a decent number of goals to be recorded. However, we are backing the home side to claim a 2-1 victory in front of their fans on Saturday.

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