RKC Waalwijk and FC Utrecht will battle it out for a quarter-final berth in the 2024-25 KNVB Beker when they go head-to-head at the Mandemakers Stadion on Wednesday.
The sides got 2025 underway on different notes last time out as the hosts fell to a 2-1 defeat against Ajax, while the visitors were victorious over Feyenoord by the same scoreline.
Match preview
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Having failed to win any of their opening 10 league matches prior to November's cup opener against Vitesse, Waalwijk were danger of crashing out at the first hurdle but showed great resolve to claim a 3-1 victory.
As a result, Henk Fraser's men set up a round-of-32 meeting against SC Cambuur on December 17 off the back of yet another rough patch in the league that had yielded just two of the last 15 points available.
However, RKC put their Eredivisie struggles behind them once again as they ran out 4-1 winners courtesy of strikes from Oskar Zawada, Silvester van der Water, Yassin Oukili and Faissal Al Mazyani.
Reaching the Dutch Cup last 16 for the first time since 2022 before their eventual quarter-final exit to AZ Alkmaar, Waalwijk are targeting another deep KNVB Beker run after suffering disappointing exits in the most recent two tournaments.
Wednesday's hosts are winless in the last 10 matches against the visitors across all competitions and have it all to do if they are to keep their hope of securing silverware alive amid what has undoubtedly been a tumultuous campaign just past the midway point.
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FC Utrecht flew out of the blocks with seven wins and a draw from their opening eight league matches before finally suffering a first defeat of the campaign in a 2-0 loss against Feyenoord on October 27.
Ron Jans's men wasted no time getting themselves back to winning ways shortly afterwards as they narrowly edged out lower league opposition Lisse 2-1 in their KNVB Beker last-64 encounter four days later.
This was the catalyst for another brilliant Eredivisie run from De Domstedelingen, who went unbeaten in six of their next seven top-flight matches before a resounding 8-0 triumph over Amsterdamsche in December's round-of-32 cup clash.
After ending 2024 with arguably their most disappointing result of the season so far, Utrecht got the better of Feyenoord in their last outing thanks to a five-minute second-half salvo in which both Niklas Vesterlund and Paxten Aaronson found the back of the net.
Trailing current leaders PSV Eindhoven by seven points, Wednesday's visitors are still in the hunt for the Eredivisie title, but their best shot at silverware is via the Dutch Cup, and they will be looking to take one step closer to glory with a win here.
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Team News
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Nouri El Harmazi is still out of contention for Waalwijk as he continues his battle with a shoulder problem, while Juan Familia-Castillo prepares to miss game number nine on the bounce through injury.
Dario Van den Buijs was hauled off with an injury problem against Feyenoord back in December, and the defender is still a considerable way off making a return to action.
Yanick van Osch is a guaranteed absentee for this one as he remains ruled out with a shoulder problem, meaning that Joey Kesting is likely to continue between the sticks.
Fresh from joining on a long deal, January arrival Sebastian Haller will be pushing to make his full debut for Utrecht off the back of a 32-minute cameo against Feyenoord.
Noah Ohio is expected to miss out for the away side due to a foot problem, but Nick Viergever could make an immediate return to the starting lineup after serving a suspension last time out.
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Kesting; Lelieveld, Van Eijma, Van Gelderen, Wouters; Oukili, Lokesa; Van der Water, Niemeijer, Cleonise; Zawada
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Brouwer; El Karouani, Van der Hoorn, Horemans, Vesterlund; Iqbal, Toornstra; Cathline, Aaronson, Rodriguez; Min
We say: RKC Waalwijk 1-2 FC Utrecht
Given Waalwijk's dismal record in this fixture, Utrecht are huge favourites to come out on top and book their place in the last eight.
We are anticipating a keenly contested affair with the away side just about emerging triumphant at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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