FC Groningen host Sparta Rotterdam in the Eredivisie at Euroborg on Sunday.

The hosts sit eighth in the Eredivisie table with 15 points, six places and six points above 14th-placed Sparta. However, Dick Lukkien's side arrive on the back of a 2-0 home defeat to second-tier FC Emmen in the KNVB Cup on Thursday.

Match preview

De Trots van het Noorden have taken 15 points from 10 league games, winning four, drawing three and losing three, with 24 goals scored and 21 conceded.

Brynjolfur Willumsson scored in the 11th and 34th minutes of the 2-2 draw at NEC on October 25, against the club of his older brother Willum, and his eight league goals in 10 appearances leave him level with Go Ahead Eagles' Soren Tengstedt at the top of the scoring charts.

Thom van Bergen has six league goals of his own, so the two forwards account for 14 of Groningen's 24.

Groningen led that game 2-0 at half time, but NEC came back after the break through Clement Bischoff and Noe Lebreton, and Lukkien was left unhappy with the draw.

The league defeats have been heavy, with a 5-1 loss at PSV Eindhoven on August 23, a 3-2 home defeat to Fortuna Sittard on August 28 and a 5-2 home defeat to Ajax on October 18, and Groningen have kept only one clean sheet, in a 3-0 win over PEC Zwolle.

The cup exit added to the mood around the club, as Jack Cooper-Love scored in the 10th minute and again 10 minutes into the second half, both times on the counter, and the Euroborg crowd whistled the team off.

Lukkien said he was ashamed of the performance but promised a response against Sparta, and his side have scored 11 goals in five home league games, though they have also conceded 11 at Euroborg.

The head-to-head offers little comfort, as Sparta have won each of the last three league meetings, 1-0 on February 2, 2025 and 2-0 on both October 19, 2025 and January 31, 2026, with Groningen failing to score each time.

De Kasteelheren are 14th with nine points from 10 matches, having won twice, drawn three times and lost five, and they have not kept a clean sheet all season.

Their 24 goals conceded include a 4-1 defeat at PSV on September 13 and a 4-0 home loss to Heerenveen six days later, a problem Rogier Meijer has yet to solve since replacing Maurice Steijn in the summer.

A 3-3 draw at Go Ahead Eagles on October 10 and a 3-2 home win over bottom club Willem II a week later ended a run of six league games without a victory.

Sparta then lost 2-1 at home to Ajax on October 25, when Jens Toornstra's 43rd-minute equaliser was answered by Tolu's goal in first-half stoppage time.

Toornstra, aged 37, made his 500th Eredivisie appearance in that game, yet Meijer left him and Bruno Martins Indi out of the starting XI for Wednesday's cup tie to manage their workload, and Fortuna Sittard won the penalty shootout at Het Kasteel.

Meijer has said Sparta must start winning the matches they are expected to win, and their away record of one win, one draw and two defeats from four includes goals in every game, with eight scored and 10 conceded.

Groningen Eredivisie form:

Groningen form (all competitions):

Sparta Rotterdam Eredivisie form:

Sparta Rotterdam form (all competitions):

Team News

Elvis van der Laan, Tyrique Mercera and Ryan Metu are all unavailable, and Travis Hernes is expected to miss out after going off hurt shortly after coming on against Emmen, with hospital tests still to show the extent of his injury.

Etienne Vaessen is available in goal, Marco Rente and Hans Hateboer were brought on at half time against Emmen in place of Wouter Prins and Mark Csinger, and the pair are expected to return to the XI that drew at NEC.

For the visitors, Shunsuke Mito is expected to return after missing action since September, and he scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Groningen at Het Kasteel on January 31.

Max de Ligt is injured, while Mitchell van Bergen is available after coming off the bench against Ajax, and Martins Indi and Toornstra should return to the XI after being rested in midweek.

Groningen possible starting lineup:

Vaessen; Hateboer, Blokzijl, Csinger, Rente; De Jonge, Clement; Schreuders, Van Bergen, Van der Werff; Willumsson

Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:

Brouwer; Martes, Young, Verschuren, Martins Indi, Kuipers; Van Cruijsen, Toornstra, Hatenboer, Babadi; Zonneveld

We say: Groningen 3-1 Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta have conceded in all 10 league games and are shipping 2.4 goals per match, which suits a Groningen attack that has scored 24 times and is led by the 14 goals of Willumsson and Van Bergen.

Groningen also defend loosely, having conceded nine in their last five league games, and Mito's return gives Sparta a way to score, so a goal for the visitors is likely.

A home side stung by the Emmen defeat and by the blown 2-0 half-time lead at NEC should be sharper than they were on Thursday, and that edge in intent is why we expect Groningen to win by two goals.

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