Comments and predictions for AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen: Powerless against the home team
The match between AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen in the Eredivisie tournament takes place at 0:45 on May 23. Nghe An Newspaper analyzes performance, makes football comments and predicts the score.
Latest AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen squad information
AZ Alkmaar continue to have difficulties with their squad, including key striker Troy Parrott – who has missed the last 5 matches of the season despite scoring 14 goals in the national championship and 20 goals in all competitions.
Other attacking players such as Jayden Addai and midfielders Jordy Clasie and Kristijan Belic were also absent, forcing Zico Buurmeester to continue to partner Peer Koopmeiners in midfield.
Mexx Meerdink is likely to continue leading the attack in place of Parrott, having scored nine goals in the Eredivisie this season. Ernest Poku and Ruben van Bommel will join main striker Sven Mijnans behind the striker in a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation.
On the away side, Heerenveen will keep the same starting lineup that beat Feyenoord 2-0, while Pawel Bochniewicz, Jordy de Wijs, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Mateja Milovanovic are still injured.
Goalkeeper Andries Noppert was forced off early in the final game of the season, so Mickey van der Hart will start this match.
Young centre-back Nikolai Hopland (20) is hoping to return to the starting line-up after being benched in the previous match. Meanwhile, Marcus Linday, Luuk Brouwers and Levi Smans will still play in midfield behind the attacking trio of Jacob Trenskow, along with two young talents Milos Lukovic and Eser Gurbuz.
Latest expected lineup AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen
AZ Alkmaar:
Owusu-Oduro; Kasius, Goes, Penetra, Wolfe; Koopmeiners, Buurmeester; Poku, Mijnans, Van Bommel; Meerdink
Heerenveen:
Van Der Hart; Braude, Petrov, Hopland, Kohlert; Linday, Brouwers, Smans; Trenskow, Lukovic, Gurbuz
Latest football commentary AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen
AZ Alkmaar return to action on Thursday aiming to take a step closer to qualifying for next season's European competition, after just missing out on a top-four finish in the Dutch top flight this season.
Having finished fourth in the 2023-24 season, De Kaasboeren finished fifth this season – their first under Maarten Martens for a full season – with 57 points from 34 games, winning 16 and losing nine.
After a run of three consecutive wins in February, AZ dropped to sixth place after going seven games without a win. However, they finished the season impressively with 10 points from their final four games, starting with a 3-0 away win over Go Ahead Eagles.
They then beat Groningen 3-0 at home and won 3-2 away at Twente thanks to goals from Ruben van Bommel, Sven Mijnans and Denso Kasius. In the final round, they drew 1-1 at home to Almere City, with David Moller Wolfe equalising after Thomas Robinet had opened the scoring for the visitors.
The draw keeps AZ Alkmaar in sixth place and they will be aiming for a home win on Thursday to progress to the final of the European Cup.
Meanwhile, away team Heerenveen are aiming for a first European appearance since 2012, after climbing to ninth place on the final day of play.
Heerenveen qualified for the 2024-25 play-offs thanks to a decent season in the Eredivisie, with 43 points after 34 games.
Despite back-to-back home wins over Almere City and NEC in April, they failed to secure the final play-off spot as back-to-back defeats to RKC Waalwijk and Go Ahead Eagles saw them overtaken by Fortuna Sittard.
However, Heerenveen surprised everyone by beating Feyenoord – the team led by former coach Robin van Persie – 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Hristiyan Petrov and Milos Lukovic.
With good momentum, Robin Veldman's team will try to take advantage of the opportunity from ninth place to advance to the decisive match for a ticket to the Europa Conference League qualifying round.
Latest AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen score prediction
Based on the above football comments, we and the world's leading football sites have given the results of the match.AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveenas follows:
- Sportsmole:AZ Alkmaar 2-0 Heerenveen
- WhoScore:AZ Alkmaar 2-1 Heerenveen
- Our newspaper predicts:AZ Alkmaar 2-0 Heerenveen
When and where to watch AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen live?
To watch the live match AZ Alkmaar vs Heerenveen in the Eredivisie tournament taking place at 0:45 on May 23, viewers can watch on online sports channels. Wish you all have fun watching football.