National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's AZ or Heracles Almelo that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's no vacation for neither AZ nor Heracles Almelo as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
It should be mentioned that Heracles Almelo play their home matches on artifical turf, so they have to adjust for this one as it's played on grass. Does it matter? Recent statistics for Heracles Almelo on grass are 5 victories, 4 draws and 17 defeats from 26 games. In these matches they have a goal statistics scored/conceded: 22-54. You can compare this with overall results below.
AZ form and stats
AZ participated in KNVB Beker the last season, where they reached the 8th finals.16 points is a decent return from 7 Eredivisie games here at AFAS Stadion for AZ. The data says 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The opportunity of a proper winning streak is there for the hosts, with two straight wins here at AFAS Stadion.
AZ enjoyed a nice away win last time out, playing at Ajax's place. The match ended 2-1 with Aboukhlal and Pavlidis scoring. AZ goalkeeper Jensen did an outstanding job against Ajax with six saves, so vital to securing the victory. Manager Jansen felt very clever after Aboukhlal scored the winning goal against Ajax, having brought on that player as a substitute in the 64th minute. Goalkeeper Peter Vindahl Jensen got the top rating on the team in that game; 7.6 out of ten. Jensen stopped the opponent with six saves.
Before that, AZ had a Europa Conference League home game versus Randers which ended with a victory 1-0.Another home game is coming up fairly shortly for the hosts, as Willem II are coming to town in three days.
AZ are an "over 2,5 goals" team alone here at AFAS Stadion in their league games, having scored an impressive 19 goals in 7 matches. 9 goals have been conceded.
Heracles Almelo form and stats
The traveling awayteam has defeated ASWH in order to reach 2nd round of KNVB Beker. Heracles was sent out of KNVB Beker in the 8th finals last season.Heracles Almelo have only collected 1 point from their away games in the Eredivisie, after 0-1-7 (8 played). Travelling has not been lucrative for the away team as they have returned home without a win in twelve away games in a row.
There might be some fixture complaints from Heracles as they are again playing away from home after losing on the road in their previous match, the Eredivisie match against Vitesse (1-2). Nikolai Laursen, attacking player, was the top performer on the team in that game, scoring a match rating of 7.35. Laursen scored one goal and dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times.
The game before that, in the Eredivisie, was lost at home, a 0-1 defeat against SC Heerenveen.A quick return to home after this game, as Heracles Almelo are hosting FC Groningen in the Eredivisie only three days away.
The visitors have scored 6 goals from 8 away games in the league, an average of less than one per game. Heracles have conceded 14 goals in these games.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last ten meetings: eight - zero - two (AZ wins - draws - Heracles Almelo wins). As for goals, nine matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), one had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  J. Karlsson 7 goals |  V. Pavlidis 7 goals |  D. de Wit 6 goals |
AZ missing players
Heracles Almelo missing players
| AZ | Heracles Almelo | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 11 | 25 | ||
| 14 | 10 | Won | W | 1 | 8 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Drew | D | 1 | 3 | ||
| 7 | 1 | Lost | L | 9 | 14 | ||
| 42 | 27 | Scored | S | 11 | 38 | ||
| 29 | 11 | Conceded | C | 21 | 37 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 96% | ||
| 76% | 83% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 73% | 68% | ||
| 56% | 67% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 64% | 60% | ||
| 36% | 33% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 27% | 40% | ||
| 16% | 25% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 18% | 24% | ||
| 56% | 58% | BTTS | BTTS | 73% | 60% | ||
| 24% | 33% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 12% | ||
| 24% | 8% | Failed to Score | F T | 27% | 32% | ||
| 4.7 | 4.8 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5 | 4.7 | ||
| 3.5 | 2.3 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.5 | 4 | ||
| 1.7 | 1.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.5 | 1.4 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 1 | ||
| 12.7 | 13.9 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 10.9 | 12.6 | ||
| 5 | 6.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.6 | 4.7 | ||
| 33% | 37% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 28% | 32% | ||
| 9.8 | 7.5 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 11.9 | 11.2 | ||
| 3.4 | 2.2 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.7 | 4.4 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | PSV | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 40 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 11 | 17 | 37 |
| 2 | Ajax | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 49 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 45 | 36 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 39 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 8 | 24 | 36 |
| 4 | Vitesse | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 22 | 23 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 10 | -1 | 29 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 24 | 20 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 14 | 4 | 28 |
| 6 | FC Utrecht | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 30 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 10 | 27 |
| 7 | SC Cambuur | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 30 | 36 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 18 | -6 | 27 |
| 8 | AZ | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 8 | 26 |
| 9 | SC Heerenveen | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 18 | 21 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 7 | -3 | 22 |
| 10 | Go Ahead Eagles | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 25 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 14 | -6 | 21 |
| 11 | FC Groningen | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 16 | -4 | 19 |
| 12 | NEC | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 26 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 16 | -5 | 19 |
| 13 | Willem II | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 31 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 17 | -14 | 18 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -8 | 15 |
| 15 | Heracles Almelo | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 23 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 14 | -7 | 14 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 17 | 39 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 20 | -22 | 12 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 16 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 24 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -12 | 11 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 28 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 20 | -20 | 6 |