Groningen vs Sittard – News and Probable Lineups

A week following their disappointing opening losses in the new Eredivisie season, both Groningen and Fortuna Sittard will meet at Euroborg on Friday, eager to get back to winning ways in matchday four.

Groningen, under the management of Dick Lukkien, suffered a harsh 5-1 defeat against PSV Eindhoven, while an early red card against AZ Alkmaar meant Fortuna faced a difficult uphill struggle in their eventual 2-0 defeat.

Match overview

Despite Groningen being favored to lose against the reigning Eredivisie champions, the form of De FC leading up to the fixture suggested a potentially closer contest.

Trots van het Noorden did begin the match brightly, taking an early lead in the ninth minute. However, PSV quickly responded with three goals in the first half and added two more before the hour mark to secure the three points comfortably.

Lukkien must now uplift his players after this setback, as De FC aims to return to winning form following their unblemished start in the first two weeks.

The manager may find solace in returning to the familiar surroundings of Euroborg, where his side has suffered only one defeat in their last six Eredivisie fixtures — a narrow 3-2 loss to SBV Excelsior — with four victories in that stretch.

Nevertheless, three of those victories were tightly contested — including two 2-1 wins over NEC Nijmegen and FC Utrecht — as well as a close 3-1 triumph against Ajax, suggesting a tightly-fought clash this weekend, irrespective of the result.

Indeed, Fortuna are likely to pose a considerable challenge for De FC as they aim to replicate their success at Euroborg from January 2026, when they achieved a 2-1 victory.

This weekend’s encounter will depend on their ability to shake off the memory of their recent 2-0 defeat to AZ, where their strategy was severely disrupted following Ole Romeny’s red card just five minutes into the match.

As a result, Danny Buijs’s side only managed four attempts on goal compared to Alkmaar’s 26, with Fortuna owing their narrow defeat to the impressive goalkeeping of Mattijs Branderhorst, who executed an astonishing nine saves.

Returning to league play after that setback, the historically prolific visitors will strive to bypass those early game errors this time, aiming for maximum points to climb above Groningen in fifth place — three spots ahead of their rivals in the standings.

Having secured two victories in their last four meetings and five of the last seven top-flight matchups, Fortuna will look to draw confidence from their comeback win seven months ago to secure another consecutive victory.

Team News

Marco Rente’s injury will be evaluated prior to Friday, while Tyrique Mercera, Ryan Metu and Malcolm Jeng (Achilles) are expected to miss the match for Groningen.

Even though he ended up on the losing side, Brynjolfur’s Darri Willumsson has found the net in each of the three Eredivisie matchdays thus far, putting him on par with Feyenoord’s Gjivai Zechiel, Go Ahead Eagles’ Soren Tengstedt, and Cambuur’s Rafik El Arguioui.

Thom van Bergen closely trails with two goals and two assists, making the 22-year-old De FC’s leading contributor with four direct goal involvements.

On the other hand, Fortuna has a somewhat longer injury list, with Romeny serving a suspension, and Kristoffer Peterson, Ivan Marquez, and Sven Simons (hamstring) unavailable due to injuries.

FSC has seen five different players score from matchday one to three, including Feyenoord loanee Shiloh ‘t Zand, Edouard Michut, Philip Brittijn, Lequincio Zeefuik, and Romeny.

Groningen probable starting XI:

Vaessen; Schreuders, Blokzijl, Csinger, Prins; The Young, Country; Van der Werff, Van Bergen, Clement; Willumsson

Fortuna Sittard probable starting XI:

Branderhorst; Wylin, Van Ottele, Hubner, Dahlhaus; Zand, Brittijn, Michut; Pinto, Seafish, Descotte

Despite the early setback against AZ, Fortuna can derive significant confidence from their recent dominance in head-to-head encounters and their triumph in this exact fixture back in January to edge out a narrow victory this Friday.