The penultimate gameweek of 2024 in the Eredivisie will kick off at MAC³PARK Stadion with PEC Zwolle playing hosts to Willem II on Friday night.

Match preview

After a slow start to the season when they managed just eight points from their first 10 games, PEC Zwolle are ending the year much more positively, having doubled their points tally from their first 10 matches in their last five.

During that period, Blauwvingers won both their home games against Fortuna Sittard and Sparta Rotterdam, and played out draws on the road with Go Ahead Eagles and Groningen, while the only defeat they conceded was against high-flyers Ajax.

Indeed, Johnny Jansen's side have done their best work here in Zwolle this term, having earned 12 of their 16 points at MAC³PARK Stadion, nine of which came in their last four matches at this venue.

The hosts have also scored the vast majority of their goals this season on their home patch (11 of their 15), while the last time they failed to find the back of the net here was in mid-February when they lost 1-0 to Almere City.

Blauwvingers have been the better side in this fixture in recent times, having won the last encounter 2-0 back in 2022, which extended their unbeaten run against Willem II to three in a row (W2 D1 L0).

In complete contrast, Willem II made a very good start to their top-flight campaign, earning eight points from their five games, but it then took them the next 10 matches to find their next eight points.

The Tricolores are coming into this match now looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat following losses to Groningen and Heerenveen by 2-0 and 2-1 scorelines respectively.

Despite those results, Peter Maes's men still possess a fairly impressive defensive record, having only conceded 18 goals - the third-best in the division - two fewer than second-placed Utrecht have shipped to date.

The visitors have earned exactly half their points on the road this season, but notably, they took points away from both Feyenoord and AZ before two very resilient performances against Utrecht and Ajax which they lost by only a single goal.

PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:

Schendelaar; Floranus, Graves, MacNulty, Van der Haar; Fichtinger, El Azzouzi; Velanas, Monteiro, Mbayo; Vente

Willem II possible starting lineup:

Didillon-Hodl; Tirpan, Behounek, St. Jago, Sigurgeirsson; Bosch, Lachkar; Doodeman, Sandra, Meerveld; Bokila