Preview: Heracles vs. SBV Excelsior - prediction, team news, lineups

Both winless in the Eredivisie since early February, bottom-placed Heracles and struggling SBV Excelsior meet at Asito Stadion in Friday’s gameweek 28 action.

While eight points separate them in the table, both sides could end the campaign outside the top flight if little changes between now and the end of the 2025-26 season.

Match preview

The positive feeling Heracles had after beating Fortuna Sittard 2-1 in February has ultimately proved fleeting.

That success marked FCH’s first top-flight victory since November, ending a three-month wait for a league win, as the division’s cellar-dwellers sought to catch a second wind in the battle for survival.

Rather than providing the fillip for a turnaround in fortunes, Ernest Faber’s team have instead fallen to five more defeats in six matches, only avoiding loss in a goalless encounter against FC Utrecht at the start of March.

Especially noteworthy during this ongoing winless spell has been their defensive frailty, with the struggling Almelo outfit conceding four goals in three separate defeats against NEC (4-1), Go Ahead Eagles (4-0) and AZ Alkmaar (4-0), while also letting in three against defending Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven (3-1).

Those results ultimately highlight the team’s broader defensive nightmare, with 69 goals conceded — significantly more than the next side on the list, 13th-placed PEC Zwolle on 52 — with seven gameweeks remaining.

Now eight points adrift of 15th-placed Excelsior, whom they host this weekend, maximum points in Almelo could offer Faber’s men a glimmer of hope in what appears to be an unwinnable battle to avoid losing their top-flight status after a three-year stay.

Ruben den Uil’s men head to Heracles in possibly even worse form than their hosts, underlining the Rotterdam club’s relegation fears.

The Kralingers have suffered five consecutive Eredivisie defeats heading into this weekend’s trip to Asito Stadion, where they aim to avoid a sixth straight loss.

The team’s current situation was perhaps unimaginable about a month ago, when a 2-0 triumph at NAC Breda extended the Paper Recycling Club’s unbeaten run to five matches, albeit with only one victory; they had also lost just once in seven, winning twice in that period.

However, the division’s joint-lowest scorers (28) have since spiralled into a sequence of negative results, with their form the worst in the league across the past five rounds, although Friday’s hosts have barely fared better, managing just one draw in the same span.

Nevertheless, a closer look at those setbacks shows that Excelsior have not been embarrassed or blown away by opponents, with all five defeats against AZ, Fortuna Sittard, Go Ahead Eagles, Heerenveen and Feyenoord coming by a one-goal margin.

The latest of those reverses came in a 2-1 Rotterdam derby defeat, after Ayase Ueda netted a brace inside two minutes to turn the game on its head following Arthur Zagre’s opener for the strugglers just before the half-hour.

At risk of slipping into the relegation playoff spot or bottom two, gameweek 27 defeats for Telstar and NAC Breda kept Excelsior just outside the dreaded positions.

However, another disappointing outcome on Friday could see them drop to 16th or 17th, with two and three points respectively separating the out-of-form side from the prospect of their fears of immediate relegation becoming reality.

Heracles Eredivisie form:

SBV Excelsior Eredivisie form:

Team News

Heracles are dealing with several absentees on Friday, with Lequincio Zeefuik missing due to suspension, while Jeff Reine-Adelaide (knee), Luka Kulenovic, Walid Ould-Chikh (back), Mike te Wierik and Fabian de Keijzer (hip) are all sidelined.

With Jizz Hornkamp long gone to AZ, Kulenovic has had to take on added responsibility, but someone else must now step up in the five-goal forward’s absence.

Although Den Uil’s side appeared to come through the Rotterdam derby unscathed, Milano Jonathans (knee) and Calvin Raatsie (shoulder) picked up injuries in gameweek 27, while Jerolldino Bergraaf and Chris-Kevin Nadje will be assessed.

Noah Naujoks has scored eight goals for the 15th-placed visitors, two of which have been match-winning efforts, and the attacking midfielder will hope to add to his tally.

Notably, and perhaps unsurprisingly, three of his goals have come away from home, accounting for 37.5% of his total, and it remains to be seen whether he can add to that return this weekend.

Heracles possible starting lineup:

Pasveer; Wieckhoff, Mirani, Van Hoorenbeeck, Mesik; Zamburek, Bozinovski; Ahlstrand, Hrustic, Unuvar; Van Gilst

SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:

Van Gassel; Bronkhorst, Widell, Meissen, Zagre; Yegoian, Hartjes, Schouten; Fernandes, Naujoks, De Regt