Preview:Fortuna Sittard vs Heerenveen - prediction, team news, lineups

Fortuna Sittard welcome Heerenveen to the Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Saturday evening in the Eredivisie, seeking to arrest a slump in form which has seen them lose three of their last four matches.

On the other hand, the away side will head into this weekend's encounter in fine form, having avoided defeat in eight straight matches across all competitions.

Match preview

Three days after narrowly seeing off the threat of lower-league side Gemert to snap a run of consecutive defeats, Fortuna Sittard suffered their heaviest loss of the season to date in a 5-2 thrashing at the hands of PSV Eindhoven on Friday.

Danny Buijs's men have now come away empty-handed from their last three Eredivisie matches and have dropped down to 12th in the standings, only four points clear of relegation danger.

Having conceded the second-most goals of any team currently not in the drop zone, Fortuna will need to address their defensive woes to get themselves back on track.

Despite their ongoing rough patch, the Fortunezen should be confident of securing a positive result against Heerenveen, who have managed just one victory from the last five meetings between the teams.

However, Saturday's hosts have not fared well at home lately, with defeats in both of their last two home encounters off the back of three wins and a draw from their first four matches on home turf this term.

After failing to win any of their four pre-season friendlies or opening five league matches of the campaign, Heerenveen returned from the September international break in need of a lift and have managed to turn things around.

A 3-2 triumph over NEC was the catalyst Robin Veldman's side needed to spark a renaissance, which has seen them pick up five wins and three draws from their last eight matches across all competitions.

A 1-1 stalemate against Ajax last time out was perhaps the biggest indication of how far De Superfriezen have come in recent weeks, as they became only the second Eredivisie team to leave the Johan Cruyff Arena with a positive result since May, while also avoiding defeat against their Amsterdam opponents for the second time in 13 meetings.

Only the current top three teams, PSV, Feyenoord, and AZ Alkmaar, have picked up more points than Heerenveen over the last five gameweeks, and it is no surprise they have climbed up to 10th place.

For all of Heerenveen's upturn in form, Saturday's visitors have remained suspect at the back, with only one clean sheet recorded during their eight-game unbeaten run ahead of the trip to Sittard-Geleen.

Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form:

Fortuna Sittard form (all competitions):

Heerenveen Eredivisie form:

Heerenveen form (all competitions):

Team News

Ramazan Bayram and Daley Sinkgraven are both guaranteed absentees for Fortuna as they remain out with knee injuries, while Syb van Ottele also misses out with a muscle problem.

Congo DR international Samuel Bastien has not featured since March due to a heart issue and is not expected back in contention anytime soon.

Alen Halilovic is unavailable for Saturday's clash through an ankle injury, denying the 29-year-old a chance of going up against his former employers.

Zwolle's Pawel Bochniewicz is still facing an extended spell out of action with a long-term knee problem he picked up last season.

Levi Smans will also not play any part for the away side, who could, however, be set to welcome back Ringo Meerveld after one game out with a muscle overload.

Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:

Branderhorst; Pinto, Adewoye, Marquez, Dahlhaus; Brittijn, Fosso, Lonwijk; Limnios, Sierhuis, Peterson

Heerenveen possible starting lineup:

Klaverboer; Zagaritis, Willemsen, Kersten, Braude; Van Overeem, Brouwers, Linday; Rivera, Sejk, Trenskow