Preview:Heerenveen vs. FC Twente - prediction, team news, lineups

Heerenveen and FC Twente will be looking to take one step closer to securing a place in the Conference League playoffs when they go head to head at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Thursday.

With the sides scheduled to face off again three days later, both will be keen to steal an early march ahead of the return leg in Enschede.

Match preview

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Twente drew the curtain on their league campaign by comprehensively defeating Ajax 3-1 in the teams' meeting at De Grolsch Veste on Sunday afternoon.

Ron Jans's men went into the interval one goal down following Dusan Tadic's opener just past the half-hour mark before second-half strikes from Manfred Ugalde, Julio Pleguezuelo and Vaclav Cerny turned the match around.

A run of four straight wins to end the season has seen the Tukkers finish fifth in the Eredivisie table, just three points behind AZ Alkmaar in the race for the final automatic European place.

Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to pick between the sides of late as the last nine clashes have yielded two wins apiece and five draws.

Currently on a run of four clean sheets in their last five away outings, Thursday's visitors will be seeking to keep things tight at the back en route to another positive result on the road.

Heerenveen extended their unbeaten streak to four matches courtesy of a routine 2-0 triumph over Go Ahead Eagles in Sunday's season finale.

Kees van Wonderen's men opened the scoring in the final knockings of the first half through Pawel Bochniewicz before Che Nunnely made sure of things in the 79th minute.

Having amassed 46 points from their 34 league games, De Superfriezen did enough to secure eighth place in the standings, finishing five points clear of nearest challengers RKC Waalwijk.

Aiming to pick up back-to-back wins on home turf for only the first time since January, Thursday's hosts know that anything less than a victory here would leave them at a huge disadvantage heading into Sunday's second leg.

Team News

Twenty-year-old Max Bruns remains out of contention for Twente due to an ankle injury which he suffered against SC Cambuur in the middle of April.

With eight direct goal involvements in his last five matches for the visitors, Czech Republic international Vaclav Cerny is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Andries Noppert has missed each of the last 10 games through a long-term hip injury and the goalkeeper is still unavailable for Heerenveen.

The home side will also be without the services of Sven van Beek and Joost van Aken through Achilles and knee problems respectively, while Timo Zaal is yet to make his return to action from a muscle problem.

Heerenveen possible starting lineup:

Noppert; Kohlert, Bochniewicz, Van Ottele, Van Ewijk; Olsson, Haye, Tahiri; Sahraoui, Van Hooijdonk, Colassin

FC Twente possible starting lineup:

Unnerstall; Brenet, Pleguezuelo, Propper, Smal; Zerrouki, Vlap, Sadilek; Cerny, Ugalde, Misidjan

We say: Heerenveen 0-1 FC Twente

Twente have been quite solid at both ends of the pitch in recent weeks and they will fancy their chances of coming away with a first-leg advantage. We are tipping the visitors to get the job done come the end of the 90 minutes.

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