🏏 Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:45 CEST
Feyenoord
vs
AZ Alkmaar
4-3-3 vs 4-3-3
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- Two unbeaten sides meet near the summit. AZ are second on 19 points from seven matches (six wins, one draw), level with leaders PSV Eindhoven on 19 but with a game in hand, while Feyenoord are third on 17 points from five wins and two draws. Feyenoord also carry the division's best goal difference at +18, so the winner here lands squarely in the title conversation.
- Feyenoord have been the Eredivisie's most destructive attack with 25 goals in seven games, and twelve of those arrived in their last two outings alone: a 7-0 demolition away at PEC Zwolle in round six and a 5-0 home win over Utrecht in round seven. AZ, on 18 goals, have taken a grittier route lately, drawing 1-1 with Willem II and squeezing past Telstar 1-0 in their two most recent home fixtures.
- Both defences are miserly: AZ have shipped only six goals in seven matches, Feyenoord seven. Belgian keeper Jari De Busser, who saved two penalties in the KNVB Cup final to hand Go Ahead Eagles the first cup in their history, guards the visitors' goal. Feyenoord answer with 193cm German Tjark Ernst, who learned his trade in the Hertha BSC system.
- AZ's midfield is stacked with men who have Feyenoord on their CV. Calvin Stengs, 27, is an AZ academy graduate who came home after spells at Nice, Antwerp and Feyenoord, and the Netherlands international still lives off his right-footed final ball. Beside him is 35-year-old Jordy Clasie, who made 129 appearances for Feyenoord and played Premier League football at Southampton. Denso Kasius, another Feyenoord youth product who went on to Serie A with Bologna, waits on the bench.
- With both coaches picking a 4-3-3, the three-versus-three midfield duel should settle the tempo. Feyenoord pair Morocco's Oussama Targhalline (186cm, schooled at Marseille) with Belgium international Charles Vanhoutte, who racked up 106 games for Union Saint-Gilloise, and use the 171cm Gjivai Zechiël as their link man. AZ counter with Clasie and Peer Koopmeiners, younger brother of Juventus' Teun, who posted seven assists in 34 league games in 2024-25.
- The flank duels could be decisive. Feyenoord's right winger Anis Hadj-Moussa is a Paris-born Algeria international of 24 whose left foot makes him a natural cut-inside threat. Facing him is AZ left-back Mateo Chávez, the 22-year-old Guadalajara product and the club's first Mexican since Héctor Moreno, whose left-footed crossing is his calling card. Whether Chávez can push up or gets pinned back may define AZ's entire left side.
- There is a clear aerial subplot up front. Feyenoord's No.19 Ignacio Ferri is a 192cm Spaniard who arrived via Frankfurt, Kortrijk and Westerlo and makes his height count in the box. AZ's answer is a pair of 22-year-old centre-backs: the 191cm Lewis Schouten and the 187cm Wouter Goes. Whoever wins those duels will also own the set-piece battle.
- AZ's front line is homegrown to its core. Striker Mexx Meerdink, 23, is the son of former AZ player Martijn and scored twice in the 2022-23 UEFA Youth League final. Alongside him, 20-year-old winger Ayoub Oufkir stands just 170cm but was prised away from Sparta Rotterdam for roughly five million euros on the strength of explosive pace and relentless one-on-one dribbling.
- Two Japanese players sit on the AZ bench. Seiya Maikuma, 28, is an attacking right-back who was named in the 2023 J1 Best XI with Cerezo Osaka and once kept Tottenham's Son Heung-min quiet in the Europa League. Rion Ichihara, 21, is a 185cm centre-back out of the RB Omiya Ardija academy and a 2025 J2 Best XI selection. On the home side, Ayase Ueda and Tsuyoshi Watanabe are both absent from the matchday squad.
- Feyenoord hold a serious card in reserve in Sem Steijn. The 24-year-old attacking midfielder won both the Eredivisie golden boot and the Player of the Year award in 2024-25 before arriving from FC Twente for a club-record fee. At 173cm he wins little in the air, but his movement in the box and his finishing accuracy make him the obvious game-changer if this stays tight.