Ajax set out to record a seventh league victory in a row when they welcome PEC Zwolle to the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Saturday.
On the other hand, the visitors make the journey gunning for three wins on the bounce for the first time this term.
Match preview
© Reuters
Ajax continued their march towards domestic glory with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over NEC at Stadion de Goffert on Saturday.
Erik ten Hag's men were in the ascendancy for the majority of the contest but failed to find a way through before Brian Brobbey popped up with an 86th-minute winner.
De Godenzonen remain four points clear of nearest challengers PSV Eindhoven at the top of the pile with just four games left to play.
Next up is a clash against an opposing side who have lost each of the last 12 meetings between the teams and are yet to taste victory in this fixture since 2014.
Having scored a whopping 57 goals in 15 home league games so far, Saturday's hosts will be looking to put on another attacking masterclass in front of their fans.
PEC Zwolle gave their survival hopes a huge boost following a 2-0 triumph over RKC Waalwijk at the Mandemakers Stadion on Saturday.
Goals in either half from Thomas van den Belt and Bram van Polen were enough to hand Dick Schreuder's men all three points.
As a result, the Blauwvingers have moved up to 16th place in the league standings and are now just two points shy of safety.
With three of their final four matches against teams in the top seven, Saturday's hosts are faced with an uphill task to avoid relegation from the top tier of Dutch football.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Goalkeepers Remko Pasveer and Andre Onana are both unavailable for Ajax, meaning that Maarten Stekelenburg is in line to start between the sticks.
Zakaria Labyad and Sean Klaiber will also sit Saturday's game out through knee injuries, while Antony is yet to recover from an ankle problem.
Off the back of his impact off the bench last time out where he grabbed the decisive goal, Brian Brobbey will be pushing for a rare start.
Zwolle will be without the services of Sam Kersten and Samir Lagsir as they continue to nurse knee injuries, and the duo are joined on the sidelines by Dean Huiberts.
Having missed the last four games due to a muscle injury, 29-year-old Mustafa Saymak could make his return to action this weekend.
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Stekelenburg; Tagliafico, Blind, Schuurs, Timber; Taylor, Klaassen, Gravenberch; Tadic, Haller, Berghuis
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; De Wit, Nakayama, Van Polen; Paal, Clement, Van den Belt, Anderson; Redan, Darfalou, Kastaneer
We say: Ajax 4-1 PEC Zwolle
Ajax boast a vastly superior squad, and it is hard to envisage any other outcome than a win for them. We expect a largely one-sided affair with the defending champions scoring plenty of goals en route to a comfortable victory.
Top tip
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 Ajax win with a probability of 88.95%. A draw had a probability of 7.4% and a win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 3.64%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 3-0 with a probability of 10.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 4-0 (9.32%) and 2-0 (8.17%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (3.24%), while for a PEC Zwolle win it was 1-2 (1.19%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 10.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 3-0 win for Ajax in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Ajax.
