Highlighted: The Twente derby is back after being gone.

In recent years, the differences between Heracles Almelo and FC Twente have been quite close in their head-to-head matches. These two teams have played three of the last four Eredivisie matches between them to a draw (with FC Twente winning once), which is the same number of draws as in the sixteen Eredivisie encounters between them before that (with Heracles winning 4 times and FC Twente 9 times). Therefore, it's not guaranteed that FC Twente, despite their good form, will easily collect points in Almelo. In just two of the last ten away matches against Heracles, Twente managed to return to Enschede with a full haul of points; they drew six times, and Heracles won twice.

This Eredivisie season, Heracles can rely on a strong home record. They've won three out of four matches at their own ground (with one draw), but five teams have earned more points at home than Heracles (9). This success has been particularly led by winger Emil Hansson, who has continued his good form from the championship year. He has been involved in six out of the twelve Heracles goals this season (scoring 4 goals and providing 2 assists), including five of the eight goals scored at home. After some journeys, Hansson now feels comfortable at Heracles and Erve Asito. Since the beginning of last season, only AZ striker Vangelis Pavlidis has been involved in more goals for a Dutch club at home in all competitions (27) than the Swedish player (26 - 13 goals and 13 assists).

But Heracles will be facing an FC Twente team in excellent form. They've won eleven out of the last twelve Eredivisie matches (with one loss), scoring a total of 32 goals and keeping a clean sheet in seven of these league fixtures, including the last three. The last time FC Twente kept a clean sheet in four consecutive Eredivisie matches was in August 2010 (back then, it was six consecutive matches). In addition to a solid defense, the Tukkers have also demonstrated outstanding offensive qualities for an extended period, and this season is no different. It's still early in the season, but only in the 2011/12 season did the club have a higher goal average per match (2.4) than this season (2.1).

However, Twente will have to do without Michel Vlap in the derby, who got injured during training. But Oosting still has plenty of attacking options, such as Ricky van Wolfswinkel. The experienced striker could play his 200th Eredivisie match on Sunday. While the 34-year-old forward used to be a regular starter, he now relies more on substitute appearances this season. Nevertheless, he seizes those opportunities eagerly to score his goals. In 2023, he has already scored six Eredivisie goals as a substitute (including 4 this season), with only Klaas Jan Huntelaar (10 in 2019) and Roger Schouwenaar (7 in 1985) achieving this more times in a calendar year. Only Kim Christensen scored more goals as a substitute in one Eredivisie season for FC Twente (6 in 2003/04) than Van Wolfswinkel in 2023/24 (4, tying with Arnold Bruggink in 1993/94).

Who will win the Twente derby on Sunday: Heracles Almelo or FC Twente? You can watch the match at 2:30 PM on ESPN's main channel.