Eredivisie round 24

Friday:
Vitesse v Roda
Saturday:
Heerenveen v Willem II
Den Haag v NAC
Heracles v AZ
Groningen v PSV
Sunday:
Utrecht v NEC
De Graafschap v Feyenoord
Sparta v Twente
Ajax v Volendam

It's one of those weeks in the Netherlands where all the top sides are apart from one another. AZ should have no trouble in beating Heracles in Almelo, PSV travel to Groningen looking good to continue their rich form, Ajax host bottom club Volendam and Twente take on Sparta. All of them look more than capable of scoring wins. Had Ajax not managed to get a win last week, you'd think they'd be there for the taking by a vastly improved Volendam, but that win over Feyenoord seems to have settled a few nerves and in Luis Suarez, they have that ace in the pack that many sides lack. Twente had a good win in midweek in Marseille with Marko Arnautovic on the scoresheet and their attacking array - Eljero Elia, Blaise N'Kufo and Arnautovic - should be too strong for Sparta who are neither good enough to go upwards or bad enough to go any further down.

Feyenoord sit six clear of the bottom three and face De Graafschap - well and truly in it - this week. It's probably the best fixture Feyenoord could have wished for at this stage, but they were truly dreadful last week and aren't going to get much better any time soon. However, in the tireless Roy Makaay, they have a match winner and De Graafschap simply don't. Game of the week is probably Utrecht v NEC. The Nijmegen side lost heavily to Hamburg in midweek, so don't arrive in confident mood, but are a difficult side to beat while Utrecht like to force the pace. Given that NEC played on Wednesday, Utrecht go into this as favourites as both sides look for a European place next season. Vitesse host Roda on Friday night and the visitors will remain in the bottom three whatever the outcome, which will probably be a home win with Vitesse prolonging their unbeaten run at the Gelredome while Roda have lost the last three straight. Heerenveen welcome Willem II to the Abe Lenstra with the Tilburgers having changed manager in the week. Andries Jonker moved upstairs leaving Alfons Groenendijk in charge of the first team with Willem II on a horror run of four straight losses. Heerenveen should be too good. Finally, Den Haag - rebuffed by Dick Advocaat in midweek - host NAC. ADO stopped a poor run with a narrow win over De Graafschap while Breda are terrible away from home. There's a big difference between De Graafschap and NAC - chasing European football - and this should be an away win.