FC Utrecht head into their Eredivisie encounter at Cambuur looking for the victory which will keep them in close proximity to the top three.
Meanwhile, Cambuur currently occupy eighth position in the standings, a consequence of recording back-to-back wins before the international break.
Match preview
Despite having earned sixth position last season, everyone associated with Utrecht would have acknowledged that it would be difficult to replicate that end result.
Nevertheless, Rene Hake's side have been superb this season, collecting seven wins from their 12 matches and scoring 27 goals in the process.
The 2-1 reverse at Vitesse came as a considerable disappointment, particularly with it allowing their opponents to move to within one point of them in the table.
However, Hake will continue to look at the bigger picture with the Cathedral Citizens just four points adrift of the league leaders.
While top goalscorer Bart Ramselaar has contributed just once in his last five appearances, he chipped in with a hat-trick against Willem II on October 31.
On the back of promotion back to the top tier, Cambuur would have been more than satisfied with any position outside of the relegation places at this stage of the season.
After suffering a 9-0 defeat at Ajax in September, a tough campaign looked likely, but four wins have been recorded in the seven games since that capitulation.
RKC Waalwijk and PEC Zwolle - potential rivals at the bottom end of the table - have been defeated in back-to-back matches, and there is reason for Henk de Jong and his squad to start looking forward rather than backwards.
Remarkably, none of this group of players have scored more than three times this campaign, their 21 goals being shared among 11 different squad members.
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Team News
Barring any injury issues, De Jong could stick with the Cambuur XI which started the 2-1 victory at Zwolle.
Despite not scoring for Cambuur since October 3, Roberts Uldrikis is in good form after netting a goal and an assist for Latvia against Gibraltar.
Utrecht will be forced into at least one alteration after Adam Maher collected his fifth booking of the campaign against Vitesse.
Joris van Overeem is most likely to come into the team in his place, while left-back Arthur Zagre is pushing for a first start after netting as a substitute last time out.
Anastasios Douvikas could return in attack, getting the nod over Sander van de Streek.
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Stevens; Schmidt, Mac-Intosch, Schouten, Bangura; Sambissa, Jacobs, Hoedemakers, Maulan, Kallon; Uldrikis
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Paes; Avest, Benamar, Janssen, Zagre; Van Overmeem, Timber; Sylla, Ramselaar, Boussaid; Douvikas
We say: Cambuur 1-2 FC Utrecht
With just five points separating the two clubs, this has the potential to be a competitive contest. Nevertheless, Utrecht deserve respect for their efforts this season, and that is enough for us to predict a hard-fought victory for the visitors.
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a FC Utrecht win with a probability of 44.59%. A win for Cambuur had a probability of 30.83% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Utrecht win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.17%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.98%) and 0-2 (7.15%). The likeliest Cambuur win was 2-1 (7.4%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.52%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood.
