FC Twente play host to RKC Waalwijk on Sunday afternoon looking to strengthen their hold of a top-five spot in the Eredivisie standings.
However, while the home side are challenging for European qualification, Waalwijk are handily placed in mid-table as they continue to enjoy a positive campaign.
Match preview
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Having finished in fourth position last season, everyone associated with Twente wanted more for 2022-23, and Ron Jans will be more than satisfied with his team's current showing.
Although the Pride of the East sit one place lower in fifth, they are only two points behind second-placed PSV Eindhoven, a consequence of seven wins coming from 11 matches.
Successive victories have been posted against Groningen and Cambuur ahead of two home matches in succession against Waalwijk and Go Ahead Eagles.
With their next fixture against a top club not coming until the middle of January when they travel to Ajax, Twente have every opportunity to strengthen their hold of a European spot before the turn of the year.
Twente's last six goals in the Eredivisie have come after half time, veteran forward Ricky van Wolfswinkel currently enjoying a hot streak of two strikes and two assists in as many appearances.
From Waalwijk's perspective, retaining their top-flight status is always the aim, but they currently sit just three points adrift of sixth position.
Impressively, their only defeats this season have been against Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven and Ajax, the latter coming by a 4-1 scoreline last time out.
However, perhaps most concerning for Joseph Oosting is that his side succumbed 2-0 to De Treffers in the KNVB Beker ahead of the trip to the champions, and RKC have now gone three matches without a win.
While Twente possess a 100% home record this season, Waalwijk have suffered just one defeat in away league fixtures, that coming by a 1-0 scoreline at PSV.
Team News
Anass Salah-Eddine is in line for his first start of the season for Twente after the 19-year-old starred as an early replacement for left-back Gijs Smal against Cambuur.
Barring any other fitness issues, the rest of the starting lineup from that fixture could remain the same, with Vaclav Cerny serving the final game of a three-match ban.
As for Waalwijk, Yassin Oukili and Jurien Gaari both collected their fourth yellow cards of the season last week and face a one-match suspension.
Depending on whether Oosting remains with five players at the back, Lars Nieuwpoort and Patrick Vroegh appear most likely to earn chances in their place.
Julen Lobete and Florian Jozefzoon are both pushing for recalls further forward.
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Brenet, Hilgers, Propper, Salah-Eddine; Zerrouki, Kjolo; Rots, Vlap, Misidjan; Van Wolfswinkel
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Lelieveld, Nieuwpoort, Adewoye, Buijs, Lutonda; Vroegh, Anita, Clement; Hassani, Kramer
We say: FC Twente 2-1 RKC Waalwijk
Despite defeat last time out, Waalwijk will be confident of causing a surprise on Sunday as they look to establish further distance ahead of the relegation zone. However, we cannot back against a Twente side who are one of the form teams in the division, leading us to predict a narrow home success.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
