Emmen will continue their fight to stay in the Eredivisie when they play host to Go Ahead Eagles at De Oude Meerdijk on Sunday afternoon.
Both sides earned valuable points in their last outings; Emmen drew away at Groningen whereas Go Ahead were victorious against Twente.
Match preview
After a period in January which saw an impressive home success over PSV Eindhoven, Emmen have stuttered this month and are beginning to look over their shoulders and towards the automatic relegation places.
Only managing a share of the spoils at Groningen last weekend now means that Emmen are four games without a win in the Eredivisie, a statistic that does not bode well for their survival chances this season.
Currently sitting 16th in the Eredivisie standings having collected just 17 points from 22 matches, Emmen are three points behind safety and need a some big results in the final 12 games of the season to maintain their first-tier status.
Emmen will be thankful that Sunday's matchup is on home turf, as the side almost exclusively earn their points on home soil, having collected 13 of their 17 Eredivisie points at De Oude Meerdijk so far.
Go Ahead Eagles put in an impressive first-half display against Europe-chasing Twente last time out to earn maximum points in front of their own supporters.
Goals from Philippe Rommens and Isac Lidberg secured the win for the Eagles, who in truth looked in control of the encounter and the destination of the points from the very early stages.
That win moved Go Ahead Eagles up to 12th in the league standings, and with neither European places nor relegation realistic possibilities, the side's aim will be to finish as high as possible.
Go Ahead Eagles last visited Emmen in 2017, with the second-tier encounter that day ending in a goalless draw - both sets of fans will be hoping for a more colourful occasion this time around.
Team News
Emmen have a single suspension in their ranks, with Mike te Wierik set to miss out of Sunday's match after being sent off in the draw with Groningen last weekend.
Former Birmingham City midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld is sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a cruciate ligament injury, an issue which reduces the manager's options in the middle of the park.
Go Ahead Eagles will be without star man Bas Kuipers until March as the 28-year-old recovers from a dislocated elbow - the playmaker has not featured since the start of January.
Enric Llansana will also miss Sunday's clash with Emmen, the player last appeared for the Eagles at the start of this month for 45 minutes.
Emmen possible starting lineup:
Van der Hart; Heylen, Araujo, Veldmate; Bouchouari, Bernadou, Veendorp, Diemers, Dirksen; Messaoudi, Zivkovic
Go Ahead Eagles possible starting lineup:
De Lange; Deijl, Nauber, Amofa, Fontan; Fernandes, Idzes, Rommens, Adekanye; Lidberg, Stokkers
We say: Emmen 0-1 Go Ahead Eagles
Emmen have improved over recent weeks but still have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid the drop this season, starting at home to Go Ahead Eagles this Sunday.
The Eagles' season is in danger of petering out, and that could benefit their hosts this weekend, but we believe that Go Ahead will still have enough to earn at least a point in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
