🏏 Sun, 13 Sep 2026 16:45 CEST
PEC Zwolle
vs
Feyenoord
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- PEC Zwolle sit 15th on four points from five matches (1-1-3, six scored and ten conceded for a -4 goal difference) and host a Feyenoord side that is the only unbeaten team in the division, fourth on 11 points with three wins, two draws and 13 goals. Feyenoord trail leaders AZ Alkmaar by five points, so dropped points here would be costly, while Zwolle are separated from 16th-placed Cambuur only by goal difference and are already fighting at the wrong end of the table.
- The two sides have mirror-image home and away records. Zwolle have lost both home games so far, 0-2 to Ajax on matchday one and 1-3 to NEC Nijmegen on matchday four, and collected all four of their points on the road with a 2-0 win at Heerenveen and a 2-2 draw at Sparta Rotterdam. Feyenoord have won all three away trips (1-0 at Sparta, 5-2 at Cambuur, 3-1 at NEC) but stumbled to 2-2 draws at home against GO Ahead Eagles and ADO Den Haag.
- Both managers line up in a 4-2-3-1, which puts the double pivot battle front and centre. Feyenoord pair Morocco international Oussama Targhalline, a 24-year-old CDM standing 186cm who came through the Marseille academy and spent time at Le Havre, with Belgium's Charles Vanhoutte, a 27-year-old holding midfielder who made 106 appearances for Union Saint-Gilloise. Zwolle counter with 186cm Dane Tobias Sørensen, 24, and 22-year-old academy graduate Nick Fichtinger.
- Japan international Tsuyoshi Watanabe, 29, anchors the Feyenoord back line at 184cm. The centre-back left FC Tokyo for KV Kortrijk before making 100 competitive appearances for KAA Gent, where he also captained the side. His hang time in the air, sharp reading for interceptions and willingness to throw himself into blocks inside the box will be tested by a defence that has already shipped seven goals in five league games.
- Alongside him is Jeremiah St. Juste, a 25-year-old ball-playing centre-back who is only 179cm but makes up for it with pace and agility. A Feyenoord academy product, he climbed through Mainz 05 and Sporting CP before returning to his boyhood club in January 2026, and his ability to drive out of defence with the ball at his feet gives the side a different route out of the press than Watanabe's more conventional distribution.
- Zwolle's hopes rest largely on centre-forward Koen Kostons, a 26-year-old, 186cm striker who is the club's leading scorer. Raised at MVV Maastricht, he scored 32 goals in 157 games there and then exploded for 11 goals in 16 matches at Sweden's Dalkurd FF, later testing himself in the 2. Bundesliga with SC Paderborn. His accurate right foot and instinct for space inside the area will need to find gaps behind Watanabe and St. Juste.
- The wide duels should be lively. Anis Hadj-Moussa, a 24-year-old Algeria international right winger, is left-footed and lives on the cut inside, having worked his way up from the Belgian lower leagues via a loan at Vitesse. He faces 22-year-old left-back Olivier Aertssen, himself a left-footer known for overlapping runs and crossing. On the other flank, Belgian Dylan Mbayo, 24 and 175cm with spells at Gent and Kortrijk behind him, takes on 20-year-old right-back Givairo Read, already named Feyenoord's third captain.
- Zwolle's centre-back pairing mixes experience with sheer size. Nick Viergever, 37, won three caps for the Netherlands and has represented Ajax, PSV, AZ Alkmaar and Utrecht, and his left foot handles the build-up. Beside him is 191cm Dane Simon Graves, 27, who arrived via Randers FC and Serie B side Palermo and offers aerial dominance plus long diagonals. Their duel with 192cm Spanish forward Ignacio Ferri promises plenty of contact.
- Both benches carry genuine weight. Feyenoord can call on Sem Steijn, the 24-year-old attacking midfielder who was Eredivisie top scorer and player of the year in 2024-25 before joining from FC Twente for a club-record fee, plus Shaqueel van Persie, the centre-forward son of the former Netherlands striker. Zwolle's options include Thijs Oosting, 26, an AZ-schooled attacking midfielder on loan from FC Groningen, and 189cm Danish forward Elias Sørensen, 26, who has played for Newcastle and Blackpool in England.