During the World Cup winter break, RKC Waalwijk surprised everyone by securing the signature of Mats Seuntjens, who was the main forward for Fortuna Sittard before the arrival of Burak Yilmaz in the summer. The 30-year-old, who was the captain over in Sittard, scored nine and assisted four and was crucial in their bid to stay up last season.

When Seuntjens is valued by the manager, he comes up with the goods for his team. Next to him in RKC’s 3-5-2 formation will be Michiel Kramer, who has netted four in ten games, and Ilias Bel Hassani will be predominantly in the ten position behind them. It is viewed by many Eredivisie followers that RKC now have a better than average attack for this part of the league.

However, Bel Hassani will be out suspended for this game, and you would expect that Seuntjens would need some time to settle in.

Heerenveen are in the next mini tier of teams above RKC in the Eredivisie table, having a much better campaign than the last one. Kees van Wonderen’s side this season are almost night and day different to what many Heerenveen supporters had to endure last season. They are defensively very solid, with Dutch international goalkeeper Andries Noppert returning to the Netherlands to play in goal for the visitors, who has been in incredible form, topping many Eredivisie goalkeeper stat charts. Van Wonderen likes to make his side tough to beat on the road, knowing his forward players have that bit of magic to give his team the opportunity potentially even for three points.

RKC won’t be at their best in attack just yet, and Heerenveen will be aiming for a clean sheet. For this reason, I believe there is a gap in the market and under 3.5 goals is a must.

AZ went into the Winter break with some inconsistency. Losses to RKC and Excelsior made some people really doubt that they could be a title contender, despite having led the standings for a short while in Autumn. On the other hand, a win over PSV in Eindhoven in November was a step back in the right direction, and some may have noticed AZ’s excellent friendly results in December, where they beat Atalanta in Italy and Valencia in Spain. They were ‘just friendlies’, but AZ have their injured players back and in form, too. They remain a strong contender to sit in the top four — at least — come May.

Djordje Mihailovic – a talented American midfielder – now also joins the group, and with key player Jesper Karlsson looking the most dangerous he ever has, it would be good to make the most of the odds of a home win on Saturday.

Vitesse have still not bounced back from last season’s stupendous Europa Conference League run. They find themselves embroiled in a battle to stay up, currently only two points above the drop zone.

New manager Phillip Cocu has had time to work with his group of players, which he didn’t have when he was first appointed in the Autumn. I think he will unsuccessfully go for a defensive approach here, with little to no pace on the break to concern AZ.

Fortuna Sittard had a rollercoaster start to the season. They hoped to be in contention for the European places but ended up sacking Sjors Ultee after some really disappointing results. New signing Burak Yilmaz was a coup, yet he has cut a frustrated figure at times as he looks to haul his side to three points. New manager Julio Velazquez enjoyed a productive start in Sittard before a period of inconsistency right before the World Cup.

On the other hand, Go Ahead Eagles appear more consistent, and they will endeavour to quietly extend their run of ten matches unbeaten. It is great form that has gone unnoticed by many in the Eredivisie. René Hake was not flavour of the month amongst Utrecht supporters before his eventual sacking, but this season with the Eagles has appeared to be a fresh start for a man who had many new players to bed in back in August.

No Mats Seuntjens for Fortuna means we might see some pacier options around talismanic Yilmaz. If the home side do grab a narrow victory, an Eagles handicap is a safe bet; however, Go Ahead have been very, very good since losing their first five games of the season. They are unearthing midfield gems such as Oliver Edvardsen, who Fortuna would do well to mark closely.

Although it was a friendly, what persuades me further of a good result for the away side is Fortuna’s dismal 0-3 defeat to Scottish side Livingston last month — a really poor scoreline for a side mid-table in the Eredivisie.