Matchday nine of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season sees Sparta Rotterdam entertain the challenge of Emmen at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel on Saturday.
Having both played out stalemates in their respective last outings, the teams will be looking to go one better in this weekend's encounter.
Match preview
Sparta Rotterdam held RKC Waalwijk to a thrilling 2-2 draw in Sunday afternoon's meeting between the teams at the Mandemakers Stadion.
Maurice Steijn's men went 1-0 and 2-1 down to strikes from Michiel Kramer and Iliass Bel Hassani but they managed to level matters both times thanks to Arno Verschueren.
De Rood-Witte Gladiatoren have slipped to eighth place in the Eredivisie table as a result, albeit only just one point outside the last European spot.
Lying in store next is the visit of an opposing outfit who are without a win in the last four meetings between the teams, losing three of them.
Off the back of consecutive wins on their own patch, Saturday's hosts will head into this weekend's contest with the wind in their sails.
Emmen snapped a run of four straight defeats courtesy of a drab goalless stalemate against Heerenveen at De Oude Meerdijk on Sunday evening.
Dick Lukkien's men failed to find the back of the net for the fourth time in five games although they did manage to secure a point this time around.
The Kannibals are 17th in the league standings after the first eight rounds of matches, ahead of bottom club FC Volendam only on goal difference.
Ahead of a crunch battle against the aforementioned Volendam six days later, Saturday's visitors go in search of a positive result to help steady what is fast becoming a sinking ship.
Team News
Tim Coremans will not feature for Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday as he continues to battle with a shoulder problem which has kept him out since July.
Twenty-one-year-old Shurandy Sambo is also unavailable for this weekend's hosts after he was sent off in the draw against RKC Waalwijk last time out.
Metehan Guclu's wait for his Emmen debut is set to continue as the Turkish forward is yet to fully recover from a long-term muscle problem.
The away side are also set to be without the services of Maikel Kieftenbeld and Mart Lieder, who remain sidelined with knee injuries.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Schoonerwaldt; Micha, Auassar, Vriends, Abels; Verschueren, Mijnans, De Guzman; Van Crooy, Lauritsen, Namli
Emmen possible starting lineup:
Oelschlagel; Veendorp, Araujo, Veldmate, Burnet; Zivkovic, Bernadou, Vlak, Romeny; Mendes, Diemers
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 2-1 Emmen
Emmen have been toothless in attack all season long and have scored the fewest number of goals in the Eredivisie so far.
While we expect them to get on the scoresheet here, we are also backing Sparta to narrowly come away with all three points in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
