Heerenveen vs FC Emmen Predictions

Victory for Heerenveen at AZ Alkmaar saw them move into eighth place in the Eredivisie table, and a win against Emmen this weekend could see the hosts enter the European places. Visitors Emmen could only draw 1-1 at home to VVV last weekend, which saw them slip into the relegation places. These two clubs have only met once before competitively and it was Heerenveen that picked up the win by three goals to one in the KNVB Beker eight years ago.

Ouwejan scored the opening goal of the game as AZ Alkmaar took the lead against Heerenveen last weekend, but a double from Vlap in the thirtieth and fifty-sixth minute saw the visitors turn this game in their favour. A seventy-ninth minute strike from Iceland’s Gudmundsson looked to have earned AZ Alkmaar a point in their own backyard, but Heerenveen stole all three thanks to an eighty-fourth minute winner from Lammers.

Both teams adopted an open, attacking style, but with 58% of the overall possession, six corners to the visitors one, and fifteen shots to Heerenveen’s nine, AZ will feel hard done by and probably should have picked up at least a point, maybe even all three.

Lammers and Vlap now joint top score for Heerenveen in the league this season with six goals apiece, while Norwegian midfielder Thorsby is just one goal behind on five. Bannink, Bijl, and Jansen are the three players who have scored more than one goal in the league for Emmen so far this season, but the trio are all tied on two goals each and the newly promoted side appear to lack a natural goalscorer in their squad.

A fifteenth minute strike from Mlapa handed VVV an early lead in Emmen, but were reduced to ten-men when Janssen picked up a straight red card. Emmen dominated the match from this point on, as you might expect with a one man advantage, and they brought themselves level in the sixty-fifth minute through Gronsveld. However, even with twenty-five minutes remaining Emmen were unable to make their dominance count any further and the game ended in a draw.

Emmen have only won one of their last six matches, and even that victory arrived in the KNVB Beker against lower league opposition, so the odds are against the visitors this weekend. We’re confident that Heerenveen will win on Sunday and that over 2.5 goals will be scored in the process. Heerenveen have won three of their last six matches, while Emmen have lost three of their last six. Over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of Heerenveen’s and in Emmen’s last six matches and were backing the hosts to claim a comfortable 3-1 victory.