The line-up of Feyenoord for the city derby against Excelsior is known. As expected, Arne Slot decides to replace the sick Gernot Trauner with Marcus Pedersen, as a result of which Lutsharel moves Geertruida to the center of the defense. Igor Paixão once again gains confidence over Alireza Jahanbakhsh. The game in the Van Donge & De Roo Stadium kicks off at 2.30 pm and can be seen on ESPN 1.
Slot has not lost a point in the Eredivisie since February 4 and therefore decides, as far as possible, to stick to his strongest eleven. That means that Justin Bijlow keeps and the defense is formed by Quilindschy Hartman, Dávid Hancko, Geertruida and Pedersen. The diaphragm consists of the trio Mats Wieffer, Orkun Kökçü and Sebastian Szymanski. Paixão, Santiago Giménez and Oussama Idrissi must provide the offensive impulses. Apart from Trauner, only Patrick Wålemark is missing at Feyenoord. Quinten Timber is sitting on the bench and has to hope for a substitution.
For a while it seemed that Feyenoord could become champion of the Netherlands with the fellow townsman on Sunday. However, because PSV won against (townmate number two) Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday, the title party of Slot and associates will have to wait at least another week. A repetition of six years ago is therefore not an option. Then Excelsior ruined the upcoming championship by rolling up Feyenoord 3-0. A week later, the selection of Giovanni van Bronckhorst seized the title.
Although it can’t ruin a title party yet, Excelsior will be keen to win on Sunday. The Kralingers are in sixteenth place with 28 points, which condemns them to play-offs for relegation. Direct competitors in that regard are FC Emmen (28 points), FC Volendam (30), Vitesse (31) and Fortuna Sittard (32). Go Ahead Eagles seems to have played safe with 36 points. The duel between Excelsior and Feyenoord will start at 2.30 pm and will be led by referee Serdar Gözübüyük.
Setup Excelsior:
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Pedersen, Geertruida, Hancko, Hartman; Wieffer, Kökçü; Szymanski; Paixao, Gimenez, Idrissi
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feyenoord | 30 | 22 | 7 | 1 | 45 | 73 |
| 2 | PSV | 31 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 47 | 68 |
| 3 | Ajax | 31 | 18 | 9 | 4 | 47 | 63 |
| 4 | AZ | 31 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 27 | 61 |
| 5 | Sparta Rotterdam | 31 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 53 |
| 6 | FC Twente | 30 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 25 | 52 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 31 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 48 |
| 8 | RKC Waalwijk | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | -3 | 41 |
| 9 | sc Heerenveen | 31 | 11 | 8 | 12 | -8 | 41 |
| 10 | NEC | 31 | 8 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 38 |
| 11 | Go Ahead Eagles | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | -8 | 36 |
| 12 | Fortuna Sittard | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | -21 | 32 |
| 13 | Vitesse | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | -12 | 31 |
| 14 | FC Volendam | 31 | 8 | 6 | 17 | -28 | 30 |
| 15 | FC Emmen | 30 | 6 | 10 | 14 | -22 | 28 |
| 16 | Excelsior | 30 | 8 | 4 | 18 | -39 | 28 |
| 17 | Fc Groningen | 30 | 4 | 5 | 21 | -32 | 17 |
| 18 | SC Cambuur | 31 | 4 | 4 | 23 | -42 | 16 |