Two in-form sides go head-to-head at the AFAS Stadion on Sunday when AZ Alkmaar play host to FC Utrecht in round nine of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season.
The home side are looking to make it three wins on the bounce, while the visitors go in search of a fourth consecutive victory to stay in touch at the top of the standings.
Match preview
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AZ recorded back to back league wins for the first time this season following a 3-1 victory over Cambuur at the Cambuur-Stadion on October 3.
Pascal Jansen's men romped to a three-goal lead courtesy of goals from Dani De Wit, Owen Wijndal and Jordy Clasie, before Roberts Uldrikis pulled one back for his side.
With maximum points from their last two outings, the Cheeseheads have moved up to 12th place in the Eredivisie table and are just three points off the top half.
They will aim to pick up where they left off before the international break against an opposing side who are yet to taste defeat in this fixture since 2019.
Sunday's hosts, who are off to Romania to take on CFR Cluj four days later, will be keen to get up a head of steam ahead of their continental commitment.
Utrecht upset the odds in their meeting against reigning champions Ajax at the Johan Cruyff ArenA two Sundays ago when they claimed a 1-0 victory.
Despite being on the back foot for the majority of the contest, a Django Warmerdam strike 13 minutes from time handed Rene Hake's men all three points in Amsterdam.
Having picked up 10 of the last 12 points available, the Domstedelingen are in third place at the moment, just two points off the top of the table.
Only Ajax have let in fewer goals than so far than Sunday's visitors, who are aiming to record a third straight clean sheet away from home this weekend.
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Team News
Tijjani Reijnders was forced with a minor injury in AZ's last outing, but the midfielder should be back in contention to feature this weekend.
Seventeen-year-old Ernest Poku remains sidelined with a muscle injury which has limited him to just six appearances since the start of the campaign.
Utrecht's defensive trio of Christopher Mamengi, Tommy St Jago and Reda Akmum all ruled out with knee injuries, while Simon Gustafson continues to struggle with an ankle problem.
Sander van de Streek scored the winner in the most recent clash involving Sunday's opponents and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Jensen; Wijndal, Martins Indi, Chatzidiakos, Sugawara; Midtsjo, Reijnders, De Wit; Karlsson, Pavlidis, Gudmundsson
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Paes; Warmerdam, Janssen, Van der Hoorn, Van der Maarel; Maher, Timber, Ramselaar; Sylla, Douvikas, Boussaid
We say: AZ Alkmaar 2-1 FC Utrecht
Of the two sides, Utrecht have made the better start to the season and will fancy themselves to come away with a positive result. However, AZ seem to have rediscovered their midas touch of late, and we are backing them to carry the day, albeit by only a narrow margin.
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 AZ Alkmaar win with a probability of 48.15%. A win for FC Utrecht had a probability of 26% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for an AZ Alkmaar win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.25%) and 2-0 (8.94%). The likeliest FC Utrecht win was 0-1 (8.15%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.27%). The actual scoreline of 5-1 was predicted with a 0.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that AZ Alkmaar would win this match.
