Our prediction for this Netherlands Eredivisie match:
Saturday’s football game between Feyenoord and Heerenveen will open round 5 of the new Eredivisie campaign. The reigning champions aim to build on back-to-back wins over Almere City (6-1) and Utrecht (5-1) and they are likely to stick to their attacking style of play. A man to keep an eye on in the home team will be Mexico forward Santiago Gimenez, who scored a brace in the last league match, while goalkeeper Justin Bijlow remains in the recovery room.
The visitors, on the other hand, struggled at the back in back-to-back losses to Sparta Rotterdam (1-3) and Go Ahead Eagles (2-3), which is yet another reason why we are going to bet on the title hopefuls. Since both Thom Haye and Charlie Webster are banned for the visiting side, anything but a routine home win would be a big surprise. In their last meeting in the Eredivisie Feyenoord defeated Heerenveen 2-1.
Highlighted Player (Alireza Jahanbakhsh):
Born in Jirandeh, Iran on August 11 1990, Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a footballer who plays for AZ Alkmaar in Holland. Before AZ, Jahanbakhsh played for NEC in the Eredivisie, but he began his youth career at Payam Alborz Qazvin. Speaking of his senior debut, he made it with Damash Tehran in the 2010/2011 season.
In 2011 he moved to fellow Iranian club Damash Gilan and it has to be noted that he scored 10 goals in 44 appearances in the league for the club. The AZ Alkmaar winger, who is used as an attacking midfielder as well, scored 21 goals in 33 appearances in the Eredivisie in the 2017/2018 season. Speaking of his international career, Alireza JahanBakhsh scored two goals for Iran on the road to Russia and he will represent his homeland at the 2018 FIFA world cup finals.
Due to his style of play, Jahanbakhsh has always been compared to legendary Iranian footballer Mehdi Mahdavikia.
Highlighted Team (Heerenveen):
Heerenveen is a Dutch football club that is well known for their white shirts with blue stripes. De Superfriezen (The Super Frisians) play home matches at Abe Lenstra Stadium, which has the capacity of 26,400 people.
Heerenveen have yet to win the Eredivisie title, but they impressed in the 1999/00 season, with the team finishing the process in second position in the standings. Thanks to a top-two finish, the club booked their place in the Champions League. Heerenveen, though, recorded only one in the group stages of the elite competition as they defeated Olympiakos 1-0 at home ground. De Superfizien retain a fierce rivals with Cambuur, and there have always been fireworks in clashes between the two teams.
It has to be noted that Heerenveen won the Dutch Cup in the 2008/09 season, with the team beating Twente on penalties in the title game. New Chelsea signing Hakim Ziyech played for Heerenveen at the start of his senior career.