A crucial three points will be on the line on Friday night in the Eredivisie when Willem II play host to Heracles at Koning Willem II Stadion.
The hosts will kick off this weekend's league action in the relegation playoff spot with 25 points after 31 games, while the visitors are in 12th place with 35 points.
Match preview
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With seven points separating them from safety and just three games left to play in the 2024-25 Eredivisie season, Willem II have to win this match to keep their hopes of avoiding a bottom-three finish alive.
However, the Superkruiken are in a terrible run of form coming into this match, and after losing to Fortuna Sittard 1-0 a couple of weeks ago, the club opted to part ways with Belgian head coach Peter Maes.
Kristof Aelbrecht will oversee proceedings until the end of the season as caretaker manager, and while he did lead them to their first point in nine games last week against NEC, the team is still winless in 2025 (W0 D3 L11).
The hosts managed to take a point from the reverse fixture back in August, but they enter this one riding a five-match losing streak at home and conceded two or more goals in each of those defeats.
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Meanwhile, despite suffering a heavy defeat to Feyenoord last week, Heracles secured their top-flight status for another season, as none of the bottom three managed more than a point on matchday 31.
Against the Pride of the South, Erwin van de Looi's side found themselves three goals down before the interval, and while they pulled one back midway through the second half, a comeback never really looked likely.
Still, the 2024-25 campaign - their second season in succession in the Eredivisie - has been a progressive one for HAFC, as they are already three points ahead of their tally from last term and are still in with a shot of finishing in the top half of the table.
However, while the visitors are unbeaten in their last three games against this opponent, their recent away record has been far from impressive, currently winless in their last six outings (W0 D3 L3) while failing to score in half of those games.
Team News
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Willem II will have to make do without the services of their key centre-back Raffael Behounek, who is suspended for this match after being sent off in the dying moments against NEC last weekend.
The hosts are expected to be missing at least three players due to injury, including Runar Thor Sigurgeirsson (knee), Mickael Tirpan (illness) and long-term absentee Dani Mathieu (knee).
Heracles will also be missing a player due to suspension in Sem Scheperman, who was shown red against Feyenoord last week, and he will likely be replaced by Juho Talvitie in midfield for this trip to Tilburg.
The visitors have four players confirmed as sidelined this weekend, including Jordy Bruijn (knock), Sava-Arangel Cestic (ankle), Justin Hoogma (muscle) and Nikolai Laursen (knee), while Jizz Hornkamp is flagged as a doubt.
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Didillon-Hodl; Wieckhoff, St. Jago, Schouten, Nizet; Bosch, Lambert, Lachkar; Meerveld, Vaesen, Kehrer
Heracles possible starting lineup:
De Keijzer; Benita, Mirani, Mesik, Rots; De Keersmaecker, Talvitie; Podgoreanu, Zamburek, Engels; Kulenovic
We say: Willem II 1-1 Heracles
This is a crucial match for Willem's hopes of ending the season outside the bottom three, but they are in a very poor run of form, currently winless since the start of the year and riding a five-match losing streak at home.
Heracles are entering this match following back-to-back 4-1 defeats, and they are without a victory in their last six away games. There was nothing to split these two sides in their last two encounters, and we feel they will end up sharing the spoils in this one as well.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
