Erik ten Hag again opts for a basic debutant in the Eredivisie in Ajax’s home match against PEC Zwolle: Youri Regeer makes his appearance as right back in the absence of Lisandro Martínez, Noussair Mazraoui and Perr Schuurs. Kenneth Taylor, who made his debut against NEC (0-1) last week, and Mohammed Kudus, who is expected hanging on the right, also appear at the kick-off. The kick-off in the Johan Cruijff ArenA is at 6.45 pm.
In De Goffert, the team from Amsterdam still had Schuurs at their disposal, but the center defender also dropped out injured. In Nijmegen, Liam van Gelderen joined the team as a debutant, but now Ten Hag prefers Regeer. The eighteen-year-old multifunctional player has played an official match for Ajax twice before: Regeer started this season in the TOTO KNVB Cup against the amateur clubs BVV Barendrecht (4-0 win) and Excelsior Maassluis (9-0 win). Now the youngster is making his first minutes in the Eredivisie.
Due to the long-term injury of Antony, Ten Hag does not have too many options on the right flank. Kudus is preferred over Mohamed Ihattaren and Mohamed Daramy on the right flank. Steven Berghuis, who started there last week against NEC and dropped out with knee problems, now starts on the bench. The same applies to Edson Álvarez, who was also not armpit fresh in Nijmegen and came in a minute before the end. Ajax played in the second half against NEC with two strikers, as Brian Brobbey came in as a disguised right winger. The attacker decided the game two minutes before time and will start again on the bench on Saturday.
Ajax setup: Stekelenburg; Reign, Timber, Blind, Tagliafico; Taylor, Klaassen, Gravenberch; Kudus, Haller, Tadic