🏏 Sun, 6 Sep 2026 12:15 CEST
FC Groningen
vs
FC Twente
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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Match Preview
- Two sides level on six points meet in Groningen. Twente are eighth with a game in hand, having taken six points from three matches (2W-1L, seven scored and just three conceded for a +4 goal difference), while Groningen are 10th after four games (2W-2L, nine for and 10 against, -1). With PSV already on 13 points from five, neither can afford to drift in the mid-table pack.
- Groningen's sequence reads W-W-L-L. They opened with a 2-1 home win over Utrecht and then thumped ADO Den Haag 4-1 on the road, but were taken apart 5-1 at PSV and beaten 3-2 at home by seventh-placed Fortuna Sittard last time out. Ten goals conceded in four games is the clearest area for their young back line to tidy up.
- Twente have built momentum with L-W-W. A 1-0 defeat at Heerenveen on matchday one was followed by a 3-1 home win against PEC Zwolle and a 4-1 victory at bottom club Cambuur. Only three goals conceded in three outings, and seven scored, make them the tighter side statistically heading into this one.
- It is 4-2-3-1 against 4-2-3-1, with the double pivots setting the tone. Groningen pair PSV loanee Tygo Land (20, CM, 168cm) with Tika de Jonge (23, CM), a product of NAC Breda who also spent time in Feyenoord's youth ranks. Twente counter with Daouda Weidmann (23, CM), a Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate who passed through Torino and RKC Waalwijk, and Ramiz Zerrouki (28, CM), the Algeria international with 108 appearances for the club before his 2023 move to Feyenoord.
- Everything for Twente runs through Wout Weghorst (34, CF). The 197cm Netherlands international scored 70 goals in 144 games for Wolfsburg and has worn the shirts of Manchester United, Burnley, Besiktas and Ajax; his hold-up play and aerial dominance are the visitors' most reliable route forward. Groningen answer with a young centre-back pairing of academy graduate Tijmen Blokzijl (21, CB, 190cm) and Hungary's Mark Csinger (23), so crosses and set pieces could be decisive.
- Younes Taha (23, RW) returns to a former club. The left-footed Morocco U-23 international, who helped his country win the 2023 CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, spent time at Groningen and made his name at PEC Zwolle with 14 goals in 31 Eerste Divisie starts. Cutting in from the right onto his stronger foot, he knows exactly how this stadium plays.
- Twente's wide players are both inverted. Marko Pjaca (27, LW, 170cm), a 2018 World Cup runner-up with Croatia who has played for Juventus, Fiorentina and Schalke, starts on the left alongside Norwegian Sondre Orjasaeter (22, LW), signed from Sarpsborg 08. They face Groningen's homegrown flank pair: left-back Wouter Prins (22), whose long throw is a genuine attacking weapon, and the 188cm Jorg Schreuders (21).
- Groningen lead the line with Iceland international Brynjolfur Willumsson (26, CF, 185cm), whose brother plays for NEC. Behind him sit Ajax academy graduate P. Clement (24, CM), who has spells at Reading, PEC Zwolle and Sparta Rotterdam on his CV, plus homegrown pair Tom van Bergen (22) and David van der Werff (22). Their task is to unpick a defence marshalled by Robin Propper (32, CB, 190cm), a former Twente captain who also spent a season at Rangers.
- The goalkeeping duel is worth watching. Groningen have Etienne Vaessen (31, 189cm), who made 196 appearances across nine years at RKC Waalwijk, while Twente field the 198cm, 103kg German Lars Unnerstall (36), a Schalke academy product who also played for PSV. Twente's depth is remarkable too: 42-year-old Remko Pasveer and ex-PSV keeper Joel Drommel (29, 192cm) both sit on the bench.
- The benches offer contrasting options. Groningen can turn to the 192cm Polish striker Oskar Zawada (30, CF), a Wolfsburg academy graduate, Newcastle United loanee Travis Hernes (20, CM) and Sweden international Jakob Ondrejka (24), who arrived on loan from Parma in August 2026. Twente hold back Lucas Vennegoor of Hesselink (20, ST, 188cm), son of the former Netherlands forward, ex-Ajax prodigy Naci Unuvar (23, CAM) and homegrown left-footed winger Daan Rots (25, RW).