Groningen vs PEC Zwolle - prediction, team news, lineups

By Adepoju Marvellous | 16 Sep 2026 23:45, Last updated: 16 Sep 2026 23:53

Matchday seven of the 2026-27 Eredivisie season gets underway as Groningen host PEC Zwolle at the Euroborg Stadium on Friday evening.

Both sides come into this fixture out of form, with the home side winless in four matches, one fewer than their visitors’ current run without a victory.

Groningen started the season with six points from their opening two games, but have since taken just two from the next 12 available after dropping points from a winning position for the second match running in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Go Ahead Eagles at De Adelaarshorst.

Dick Lukkien’s side will be disappointed not to have claimed all three points, which would have moved them up to seventh, but they are now unbeaten in two, having bounced back from consecutive defeats to PSV Eindhoven and Fortuna Sittard at the end of August.

The recent return of Hans Hateboer after nine years away has lifted spirits, and Trots van het Noorden must now produce a positive display to avoid going five league games without a win for the first time since a six-match losing run earlier this year.

Groningen were arguably the better side in both meetings with Zwolle last season but had to settle for a point each time, extending their winless run in this fixture to eight matches dating back to May 2021.

Three-quarters of Groningen’s 12 league goals this season have come in the first half, so Friday’s hosts will look to pile some early pressure on Zwolle who have conceded seven first-half goals in their last five outings.

Three of those seven goals came in Zwolle’s 7-0 defeat to Feyenoord at the Mac3Park Stadion on Sunday, which marked the heaviest managerial loss of Henry van der Vegt’s career.

That defeat also saw De Blauwvingers slip into the bottom three of the Eredivisie table after a tough start, with their opening seven opponents, including Groningen, all finishing in the top ten last season.

To turn things around, Zwolle will need to improve at both ends, having scored the joint-second-fewest goals (ahead of only Telstar) and conceded more goals (17) than all but Willem II and FC Utrecht.

PEC’s active unbeaten record against their upcoming opponents looks overly glamorous at first glance, but six of those eight meetings have finished level.

Nevertheless, Friday’s visitors will use all the motivation they can get as they seek to return to winning ways in their final match before the September international break, after which a more favourable run awaits, including clashes with all three newly promoted teams over the next five gameweeks.

Defenders Malcolm Jeng, Tyrique Mercera and Nikolas Brandis are all unavailable for Groningen, while Travis Hernes also remains sidelined.

Ryan Metu is set to miss a sixth consecutive game, but Marco Rente returns to contention after sitting out the last two matches.

Brynjolfur Willumsson’s equaliser against Go Ahead Eagles was his fourth goal in six league matches this season, making him one to watch.

Twenty-four-year-old Filip Krastev is out with an Achilles tendon injury, which he picked up while on loan at Goztepe.

Younes Namli is also expected to miss out and is joined in the treatment room by Ryan Thomas and Sherel Floranus, who both missed the Feyenoord match.

Vaessen; Schreuders, Blokzijl, Csinger, Prins; De Jonge, Land; Van der Werff, Van Bergen, Clement; Willumsson

Schendelaar; Van der Haar, Viergever, Graves, Aertssen; Sommer, Fichtinger; Sorensen, Oosting, Mbayo; Kostons

With both teams scoring in each of their last six matches, Groningen have been involved in entertaining contests this season, and we expect Friday’s game to follow suit.

Even so, we are backing the hosts to claim all three points and deepen the visitors’ woes.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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