The most interesting match in the first round of new Eredivisie campaign will see Heerenveen and AZ Alkmaar square off at Abe Lenstra Stadion.

Following several successful seasons, the Frisians were well below par last term, finishing the league campaign in eighth place before losing to Utrecht in the Europa League play-off semi-final.

The club chiefs are obviously demanding an improvement from Marco van Basten and his squad, but his side are predicted another difficult campaign.

Heerenveen stayed without two very important attackers as Filip Djuricic was sold to Benfica and Yassine El Ghanassy returned to Genk, while important defender Jeffrey Gouweleeuw reinforced their next opponents.

In came Magnus Eikrem, Samir Fazli, Mitchell Dijks and Chiel Kramer, but these players have yet to prove they can play at this level.

As far as pre-season is concerned, Heerenveen looked pretty good of late, defeating OH Leuven before sharing spoils with Gent and Osasuna.

As a result, they go into the AZ clash high on confidence, so bear in mind home win pays 2.60 (8/5) with Stan James.

Joey van den Berg misses out through suspension, while Jukka Raitala and Sven Kums remain sidelined through injury.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Nordfeldt – Van Aanholt, Kruiswijk, Otigba, Dijks – De Roon, Eikrem, Ziyech – Slagveer, Finnbogason, Wildschut.

When it comes to performances in the league, AZ Alkmaar were even more disappointing than their next opponents, but Gertjan Verbeek’s men managed to make amends for 10th-place finish in Eredivisie.

They largely impressed to beat giants Ajax and PSV Eindhoven on the way to the KNVB Beker title, proving they still have what it takes to mix it up with the best of them in the Netherlands.

While seeing top scorer Jozy Altidore leave for Sunderland, AZ Alkmaar signed several very good players in Nemanja Gudelj, Jan Wuytens and aforementioned Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, with January signing Aron Johannsson nailing down a regular starting berth.

After the 3-0 friendly win over Getafe hinted the team could be in for a very successful season, Gertjan Verbeek’s side showed a lot of promise in the Super Cup match against Ajax, but ended up losing after extra time having squandered a two goal lead.

However, with AZ in much better shape than Heerenveen, there may be some value in betting on away win, at odds of 2.70 (17/10) offered at William Hill.

Defender Dirk Marcellis continues to miss out, but Gertjan Verbeek has no other selection worries at the moment.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Alvarado – M. Johansson, Wuytens, Gouweleeuw, Viergever – Gudelj, Henriksen, Elm – Beerens, A. Johannsson, Gudmundsson.

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