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Sports Mole previews Saturday's Eredivisie clash between Heerenveen and SBV Excelsior, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Aiming to pick up their second win of the 2025-26 campaign, Heerenveen host SBV Excelsior at Abe Lenstra Stadion on Saturday night in the Eredivisie. 

De Superfriezen picked up a 2-2 draw against FC Utrecht in their previous game, while the visitors suffered their fifth defeat of the campaign, losing 2-1 against PSV Eindhoven. 

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Match preview

It took Robin Veldman's men six games to register their first win when they defeated NEC 3-2 at their home turf. 

The victory gave them immense confidence, and they were on course to pick up back-to-back wins as Dylan Vente scored twice to give them a 2-1 lead, but a late goal from David Min meant they came out with just a point against Utrecht. 

Heerenveen finished ninth in the league with 43 points last season, but they struggled to secure points after losing three of their opening five games, drawing the other two. 

What should worry the fans is that they have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their matches so far and must find a way to avoid conceding late goals. 

In the second match of the campaign, they conceded a 90th-minute goal from Brynjolfur Willumsson, and a similar trend was observed when Finn Stokkers scored for Go Ahead Eagles in the dying minutes of the 2-2 draw in August. 

After returning to the top flight, Excelsior began their campaign disappointingly, losing their first three games and conceding 11 goals. 

After that, the Rotterdam club have gradually found their footing in the league, and have picked up two wins in their last four games, although they also lost twice in between. 

Maintaining consistency will be the biggest challenge, but the Kralingers can take confidence from the fact that they won 2-1 against Volendam in their previous away fixture. 

Both teams are on six points from seven games, and it is already turning out to be an early relegation six-pointer. A defeat for the Oud Papier Club would put further pressure on Ruben den Uil, but a victory could take them close to the mid-table. 

The leaky defence remains the biggest worry, having conceded 15 goals already, and therefore, fans of both teams can expect an end-to-end open game on Saturday. 

Heerenveen Eredivisie form:

D W L D L L 

SBV Excelsior Eredivisie form:

L W L W L L

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Team News

Heerenveen are still without the services of centre-back Pawel Bochniewicz, who is a long-term absentee after tearing his ligament in December last year. 

The home side are also missing centre-back Nikolai Soyset Hopland, who picked up an ankle injury last month and has sat out the past three games. 

Veldman could also be without left-winger Amourricho Van Axel-Dongen, who picked up a muscular injury against NEC and missed the previous game. Levi Smans is still out with a knee injury, and the 22-year-old is expected to be absent for this game. 

Excelsior are missing the services of young centre-back, Lewis Schouten, who is currently out with a knee concern. 

They will also be without midfielder Lennard Hartjes, who picked up a cruciate ligament injury back in January. 

Goalkeeper Stijn van Gassel returned to the starting line-up against PSV in the previous game after a groin problem, and the 28-year-old keeper should continue between the sticks on Saturday. 

Heerenveen possible starting lineup: 

Klaverboer; Braude, Van Overeem, Willemsen, Zagaritis; Brouwers, Linday, Meerveld; Rivera, Trenskow, Vente

SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:

Van Gassel; Bronkhorst, Widell, Meissen, Zagre; Naujoks, Carlen; Fernandes, Yegoian, De Regt; Wlodarczyk

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We say: Heerenveen 2-2 SBV Excelsior

 

Excelsior won both home and away matches against Heerenveen with a 3-0 scoreline the last time they met in the Eredivisie in 2023-24, and they will be looking to repeat a similar result. 

The home side have shown signs of revival in recent games, and it could be a goal-fest, but it is hard to pick a favourite for this one. 

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

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