Willem II vs Heerenveen Predictions

Just one point and two places separate Willem II and Heerenveen ahead of their Eredivisie clash on Saturday, and the way both teams have played this season we’re expecting an open, entertaining game of football and hopefully a few goals as well. Both teams earned wins last weekend and will head into this match confident that they can claim all three points, and if the hosts win they will leapfrog their guests, while a victory for Heerenveen could see the visitors move into the top seven.

Willem II were the underdogs when they travelled to Alkmaar to face AZ last weekend, but an early goal from talisman Fran Sol saw the visitors take the lead. AZ controlled the possession and created more goal scoring opportunities than their guests, but another counter attack by Willem II saw Sol score his second goal of the game and the visitors take a 2-0 lead into the break.

AZ continued to dominate the game throughout the second half with 72% of the overall possession, seven corners to the visitors one, and thirteen shots during the ninety minutes to Willem II’s six. However, poor finishing and some great last ditch defending from the visitors saw AZ defeated in their own backyard and once again Willem II had Fran Sol’s class in front of goal to thank for their side picking up a win.

Fran Sol is now on twelve league goals for the campaign and well on his way to surpass his best ever total of sixteen Eredivisie goals for Willem II, which the Spaniard achieved last season. Avdijaj is the next highest scorer in the hosts camp with four league goals, but when Sol does go through a run of poor form, pick up an injury, or get suspended, it will be interesting to see how, or if, Willem II will cope. Lammers and Vlap joint top score in the league for Heerenveen so far this season on six goals apiece, but teammate Thorsby is just one behind on five goals, and Zeneli has chipped in with three.

Heerenveen would have been expecting a tough game against newly promoted Fortuna Sittard last weekend, but in the end the hosts ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. The first half looked like ending 0-0, but a late strike from Høegh saw Heerenveen take the lead and gave the home fans something to shout about. Scoring before the interval is always considered a huge psychological positive, but scoring two minutes after the restart is even better, and that’s just what the hosts did via a Zeneli penalty.

Fortuna Sittard pulled a goal back less than a minute after going 2-0 behind, with Lamprou taking the credit after great work from Rodríguez. The tension could be felt amongst the home faithful who had seen their team blow slender leads at home on numerous occasions this season, but a seventy-ninth minute strike from van Amersfoort confirmed Heerenveen’s first home league win of the campaign.

We’re confident that both teams will score and that over 2.5 goals will be produced in Saturday’s game, and have backed Willem II to claim a narrow 2-1 win. Four of the last six matches between these two clubs have seen both teams score and produce over 2.5 goals. Two of Willem II’s last three games have seen both teams score, while three of their last five have produced over 2.5 goals. Four of Heerenveen’s last six matches have seen both teams score and over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of their last six as well.