Preview:Heerenveen vs. AZ Alkmaar - prediction, team news, lineups

Round 19 of the 2023-24 Eredivisie season sees Heerenveen entertain the challenge of AZ Alkmaar at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday afternoon.

Neither team was able to come away with maximum points from their most recent outings, and they will both be keen to return to winning ways.

Match preview

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AZ Alkmaar had to settle for a share of the spoils in their clash against PEC Zwolle, which ended in a 2-2 stalemate at the AFAS Stadion on Saturday.

Pascal Jansen's men trailed 1-0 and 2-1 but managed to restore parity on either occasion through strikes from Vangelis Pavlidis and Sven Mijnans.

As a result, the Cheeseheads remain fourth in the Eredivisie table, three points behind FC Twente in third place and as many points clear of Ajax in fifth.

Coming up next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have managed just one victory from the most recent 10 editions of this fixture.

Having won just one of their last most recent eight outings on the road, Sunday's visitors now set out to get themselves going away from home.

Heerenveen were on the receiving end of a 3-0 defeat against SBV Excelsior when the sides went head-to-head at Van Donge & De Roo Stadion on Friday.

Goals from Couhaib Driouech and Troy Parrott left Kees van Wonderen's men with a mountain to climb at half time, after which Lazaros Lamprou sealed the deal just past the hour mark.

With 20 points picked up from their 18 matches to date, De Superfriezen sit 11th in the standings, five points shy of the last European place.

Currently on a run of back to back defeats on home turf, Sunday's hosts will be keen to give their fans reason to cheer this time around.

Team News

AZ Alkmaar duo Mathew Ryan and Yukinari Sugawara will not feature here as they remain away with Australia and Japan at the ongoing Asian Cup.

The visitors will also be without Mayckel Lahdo and Sam Westerveld through knee injuries, while Hobie Verhulst continues to nurse a shoulder problem.

Forward Vangelis Pavlidis has been directly involved in 20 of his side's 38 league goals this term, making him one to keep an eye on here.

Heerenveen's Hussein Ali is currently on international duty with Iraq, and the 21-year-old will not play any part in this weekend's contest.

Daniel Karlsbakk misses out for the second game running through a muscle problem and is joined on the hosts' treatment table by Ion Nicolaescu.

Heerenveen possible starting lineup: Noppert; Braude, Bochniewicz, Van Beek, Hall; Tahiri, Haye; Olsson, Sahraoui, Walemark; Brouwers

AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup: Owusu-Oduro; Kasius, Martins Indi, Bazoer, Penetra; Belic, De Wit, Clasie; Lahdo, Pavlidis, Van Brederode

We say: Heerenveen 1-2 AZ Alkmaar

If recent encounters are anything to go by, we are in for an entertaining affair here, and we expect the game to pan out that way. That said, we are also backing AZ to come out on top in the end.

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