The line-up of Feyenoord for the first league match against Willem II is known. Alireza Jahanbakhsh dropped out against FC Lucerne in the Conference League on Thursday with an injury and is not fit enough to appear at the kick-off. Newcomer Fredrik Aursnes is in the starting line-up. The midfielder who came over from Molde makes his official debut for Feyenoord. The duel in the Koning Willem II Stadium starts at 4.45 pm and is led by referee Serdar Gözübüyük.
Confidence is high at Feyenoord. The team of trainer Arne Slot won in the preparation against Atlético Madrid (2-1) and has also qualified for the next round in the Conference League after two fairly simple victories over the Swiss FC Lucerne. Last Thursday, Slot had to deal with the loss of Jahanbakhsh, who had to be replaced by Róbert Bozeník on the stroke of half-time. The Iranian has not been fit enough to start from the first minute. His place in the vanguard is taken by Jens Toornstra.
Toornstra, who will probably start as a right winger, will be joined in the vanguard by Bryan Linssen and Luis Sinisterra, as was the case on Thursday. Furthermore, the base place of Aursnes stands out at Feyenoord. The Norwegian midfielder was presented by Feyenoord this week and can show it right from the start. Aursnes was missing against Lucerne on Thursday, as he already played in the Conference League with Molde this season. Aursnes is flanked in midfield by Orkun Kökçü and Guus Til. The latter was added to the pre-selection of the Dutch national team by national coach Louis van Gaal on Friday.
Remarkably enough, there are also a number of absentees for the Willem II duel in the technical staff of Feyenoord. Robin van Persie and Sipke Hulshoff are the assistants of Slot in Tilburg. Marino Pusic is in quarantine after a corona infection in his immediate vicinity. John de Wolf is ill, but would not be infected with the corona virus. De Wolf will stay home on Sunday afternoon to continue his illness.
Former Feyenoord player Miquel Nelom is missing from Willem II. The defender is coming back from a serious injury and will first make minutes with the promises. Feyenoord’s opponent has had to deal with several corona cases. Trainer Fred Grim told this week in conversation with the Brabants Dagblad that the preparation has therefore not gone as desired. “Due to the corona outbreak, everything here has been put on the back burner for two weeks and the process has been disrupted,” said the debuting head coach of the Tilburg team.
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Pedersen, Trauner, Senesi, Malacia; Aurnses, Til, Kokcu; Toornstra, Linssen, Sinisterra
William II setup: Rider; Owusu, Begstrom, Jenssen, Kohn; Saddiki, Saglam, Spieringhs; Nunnely, Wriedt, Kohlert.