Eredivisie | Gameweek 18

Jan 12, 2025 at 1.30pm UK

Stadion Feijenoord

Feyenoord vs Utrecht

Match preview

Last season, Feyenoord was the only team in the Eredivisie that could challenge PSV for the top spot, but they're not likely to be in the running for the title this term unless they can improve over the second half of the campaign.

They've only lost two games so far this season, but they've had five draws in their first 17 matches, which has seen them fall 10 points behind the league leaders. The latter also have a much easier fixture this weekend, away to PEC Zwolle.

Brian Priske's side lost their last game of last year 3-0 away to the Boeren, ending a four-match win streak and unbeaten run that spanned eight games in all competitions dating back to the start of November.

The Feyenoord boss will have been pretty worried about how much the other team dominated the match. His team hardly had the ball for most of the game and only got two shots on target in the whole match.

So, a solid start to 2025 will be key for the hosts here, and they've done well at home in the first half of the campaign, winning five and drawing two of their eight matches, with the only defeat being against Ajax in October.

Meanwhile, after not making it into the European qualification spots in the last three seasons, Utrecht have really upped their game this term. They're now on 36 points, just 14 less than they got across the whole last season.

But they did hit a bit of a slump before the break, with just one win in their last five league games, including a 5-2 home defeat to Fortuna Sittard on the last matchday of 2024.

Nick Viergever and Yoann Cathline put Ron Jans's side 2-1 up at the hour, but they completely fell apart in the last 15 minutes of the match, conceding four goals to suffer their joint-biggest defeat of the season.

Notably, Utrecht were very poor in defence in December, shipping 16 goals in their final five games of the calendar year, four more than they conceded across the first 12 matches of the season.

But the visitors will be feeling good about this match, because they've got an amazing away record this season. They're the only team in the top flight that's still unbeaten on the road, with six wins and two draws in eight games.

Recent Perfomance

Feyenoord Eredivisie form:WWDWWL

Feyenoord form (all competitions):WWWWLW

FC Utrecht Eredivisie form:WLDWDL

FC Utrecht form (all competitions):LDWDWL

Team News

Feyenoord will have to play without their captain, Quinten Timber, in the first game of the year. The midfielder, who's been linked with a move to the Premier League this month, was shown his fifth yellow card of the season in the defeat to PSV.

The hosts also have two players ruled out through injury: In-beom Hwang (unspecified) and Jordan Lotomba (broken leg). Gijs Smal, Julian Carranza and Quilindschy Hartman are listed as major doubts.

For the visitors, Nick Viergever was sent off in the dying moments of the defeat against Fortuna Sittard last month, and the defender will have to serve his one-match suspension this weekend.

Noah Ohio only played two games before sustaining a foot injury early in the season, but reports suggest he could return to action in the next few weeks. Matisse Didden is a bit of a doubt for this match.

Possible starting lineup

Feyenoord possible starting lineup:

Bijlow; Read, Trauner, Hancko, Bueno; Zerrouki, Milambo, Stengs; Paixao, Gimenez, Moussa

FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:

Barkas; Vesterlund, Van der Hoorn, Horemans, El Karouani; Iqbal, Engwanda; Rodriguez, Jensen, Cathline; Min