🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 20:00 CEST
Fortuna Sittard
vs
Ajax
5-3-2 vs 4-3-3
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Sixth hosts ninth, but the gap is smaller than the table suggests. Fortuna Sittard have 10 points from five games (3-1-1), while Ajax sit on seven from four with a match in hand after their Round 3 fixture went unplayed. The bigger picture is less comfortable for the visitors: leaders AZ Alkmaar already have 16 points from six, and Ajax arrive after a 1-3 home defeat to PSV.
- Fortuna's start has been eventful and productive. They drew 2-2 away at PSV on the opening weekend, beat Cambuur 3-1 at home, then won back-to-back away games by scoring three each time, 3-2 at Groningen and 3-2 at ADO Den Haag. Eleven goals scored and nine conceded in five matches tells you they are happy to trade blows.
- Ajax have been a different team on the road. They won 2-0 at PEC Zwolle and 4-0 at Telstar, but at home were held 2-2 by Heerenveen and beaten 1-3 by PSV. With one fixture still outstanding they have played a game fewer than most of the division, so points on the road are the quickest route back up the table.
- Mohamed Ihattaren faces a former club. The left-footed attacking midfielder, who wears 52 for Fortuna, was hailed as a prodigy in PSV's academy, tore up the Eredivisie as a teenager and moved to Juventus before spells at Sampdoria, a loan at Ajax and a stint at RKC Waalwijk. Now 24, his passing and shooting with the left foot remain top class when his form holds.
- Marc-André ter Stegen starts in goal for Ajax. The 34-year-old Germany international spent more than a decade at Barcelona after joining in 2014, had a loan spell at Girona in the first half of 2026, and moved to Amsterdam on loan in August. He is heavily involved in building from the back, so how aggressively Fortuna press his distribution is a genuine subplot.
- Ajax's front three have clearly defined jobs. Through the middle, the 197cm Nigeria international Tolu Arokodare is a classic target man who won the Ebony Shoe after scoring 20 goals in Belgium. Oliver Edvardsen, who hit 26 goals in two and a half seasons at Go Ahead Eagles, attacks from the left, while 34-year-old Steven Berghuis, left-footed and a set-piece specialist, takes the right.
- Fortuna's 5-3-2 puts two big men up front: the 189cm Ole Romeny alongside the 197cm Zeefuik, on loan from AZ Alkmaar. Crosses and second balls will be the battleground, and the men tasked with handling them are Ajax centre-backs Youri Baas, the 23-year-old left-footed academy graduate known for his long passing, and Germany's Thilo Kehrer, who spent four seasons at Paris Saint-Germain and won multiple Ligue 1 titles.
- The midfield is a straight three-against-three. Fortuna field Edouard Michut, the left-footed PSG academy graduate once nicknamed the new Verratti who arrived via Sunderland and Adana Demirspor, plus Feyenoord-schooled 23-year-old Shaylo te Zandt and Ihattaren. Ajax answer with Julian Brandt, a long-serving Bundesliga operator at Dortmund and Leverkusen, ball-winner Sofyan Amrabat of Morocco, and 18-year-old Jorthy Mokio, a centre-back by trade who made his senior Belgium debut in March 2025.
- There is a strong Indonesia thread running through this fixture. Romeny was born in the Netherlands but chose Indonesia, and scored 11 goals in 33 Eredivisie games for Emmen earlier in his career. Fortuna centre-back Justin Hubner, 22, came through Wolverhampton's academy and played in Japan's J1 for Cerezo Osaka before taking Indonesian citizenship in 2023, while Ajax's backup goalkeeper Maarten Paes is also an Indonesia international after 114 games for FC Dallas.
- Both benches carry weight, and Ajax's is especially deep. Kasper Dolberg, who broke through at Ajax before Nice and Sevilla and has 56 caps and 12 goals for Denmark, waits alongside club legend Davy Klaassen, now in his third spell at the club, and No.10 Oscar Gloukh, the Israel international signed from Red Bull Salzburg for around €14.75m. How those changes are used may decide the final half hour.