Preview: PEC Zwolle vs Telstar - prediction, team news, lineups

Round 21 of the 2025-26 Eredivisie season sees PEC Zwolle host Telstar at the MAC³PARK Stadion on Saturday evening.

Both teams are looking to bounce back after their most recent outings; the hosts suffered a 2-1 defeat to NEC, while their visitors were narrowly beaten by AZ Alkmaar.

Match preview

With no back-to-back defeats or victories for Zwolle since early October, inconsistency has been the order of the day for De Blauwvingers, but they continue to keep their head above water.

After an impressive 3-1 win over AZ Alkmaar for their first victory of 2026, Henry van der Vegt's men travelled to Nijmegen on Saturday and appeared poised for a second consecutive success when Younes Namli put them ahead, before goals in either half from Koki Ogawa and Tjaronn Chery turned the game on its head, extending Zwolle’s winless away run in the league to over five months.

Heading into this weekend’s assignment, Zwolle are 12th in the Eredivisie table, seven points clear of the bottom three and seven points behind the final European qualification spot.

Back on home turf, where they have picked up four straight league victories, Saturday's hosts go in search of an immediate return to winning ways and have history on their side with 14 wins and a draw from the last 15 matches against their upcoming opponents.

However, Zwolle have conceded a league-high 24 goals in the first halves of matches this season, highlighting a vulnerability that Telstar will look to exploit—particularly as the away side have opened the scoring in six of their last eight games.

Save for their KNVB-Beker triumph over Almere City a fortnight ago, Telstar have endured an underwhelming start to the New Year, although not for a lack of trying, with both of their league losses so far coming by a one-goal margin.

Anthony Correia's men could not have picked a worse time for their run of scoring in nine straight matches to come to an end, as they were defeated by a lone goal against AZ last time out.

De Witte Leeuwen remain one point from safety in what has been a challenging return to the Dutch top flight after a 47-year absence.

A defeat this weekend could see Telstar drop to the foot of the standings, but their ongoing seven-game unbeaten run away from home should inspire some confidence.

Even so, Saturday's visitors must address their attacking struggles away from home, having netted just seven times in nine away fixtures—only Volendam have scored fewer (five) in the division.

PEC Zwolle Eredivisie form:

Telstar Eredivisie form:

Telstar form (all competitions):

Team News

Ryan Thomas picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against NEC and is ineligible to feature this weekend.

Long-term absentee Samir Lagsir remains sidelined with a knee injury, while fellow midfielders Zico Buurmeester and Odysseus Velanas continue to nurse ankle problems.

Jasper Schendelaar has missed more games this season than in the previous four campaigns combined, with the 25-year-old goalkeeper not expected to return for another month.

After serving a suspension and missing the 2-2 draw with Excelsior, January signing Cedric Hatenboer returned against AZ, leaving Telstar with a full squad available for Saturday’s clash.

Patrick Brouwer has been directly involved in four goals in his last four away outings and will look to deliver the goods for the visitors once again.

PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:

De Graaff; Floranus, MacNulty, Graves, Gooijer; Monteiro, Oosting, Faberski; Shoretire, Kostons, Namli

Telstar possible starting lineup:

Koeman; Bakker, Offerhaus, Nwankwo; Noslin, Rossen, Hatenboer, Hardeveld; Van de Kamp, Zonneveld, Brouwer

We say: PEC Zwolle 2-1 Telstar

Telstar have failed to score in five of their last six visits to Zwolle, but they will fancy their chances of finding the back of the net against a home side without a clean sheet in four matches.

That said, Zwolle’s strong home form makes them favourites, and we are backing the hosts to secure all three points.

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