The pick of the action in round 17 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season sees title contenders Feyenoord and Ajax face off at De Kuip on Sunday.
Both teams are level on points heading into this weekend's contest, which has all the makings of an absorbing affair.
Match preview
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Ajax breezed into the next round of the KNVB-Beker with a 4-0 victory over lower-league opposition Barendrecht on Wednesday.
Despite fielding a relatively weaker team, Erik ten Hag's men cruised to a comfortable win courtesy of goals from Kenneth Taylor and Kristian Hlynsson either side of a Danilo brace.
Prior to that, de Godenzonen were beaten for only the second league game this season in a 2-1 defeat to AZ Alkmaar on Sunday.
The defending champions have now dropped to second place in the Eredivisie table as a result and will look to reclaim top spot in the coming weeks.
Standing in their way next is an opposing side who have lost 14 of the last 20 meetings between the teams, including each of the most recent four.
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Feyenoord were knocked out of the Dutch Cup following a shock 2-1 defeat to Twente at De Grolsch Veste on Wednesday.
Arne Slot's men took the lead through Cyriel Dessers before a Giovanni Troupee strike with 11 minutes remaining forced extra time, in which Manfred Ugalde grabbed the winner.
De Stadionclub played out a 1-1 draw versus Groningen in the league game prior and missed an opportunity to move into top spot just before Ajax's slip up in Amsterdam.
Sunday's hosts, who are yet to suffer defeat on home turf this term, now prepare for the visit of an away side unbeaten on the road so far.
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Team News
Leading goal scorers Sebastien Haller and Bryan Linssen with 14 direct goal involvements apiece will be heavily relied upon to inspire their respective teams to victory.
Twenty-seven-year-old Sean Klaiber is yet to recover from a knee injury, and he is not expected to be available for the defending champions on Sunday.
Ajax will also take to the field without the services of first-choice goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and Noussair Mazraoui, who are sidelined with hip and muscle injuries respectively.
Steven Berghuis prepares to take on his former side for the first time since his move to the Johan Cryuff ArenA last summer.
Denzell Hall is yet to feature for Feyenoord so far due to an ankle problem and remains their only absentee for this weekend's game.
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Marciano; Malacia, Senesi, Trauner, Pedersen; Kokcu, Til, Aursnes; Jahanbakhsh, Sinisterra, Linssen
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Rensch, Timber, Martinez, Blind; Alvarez, Gravenberch, Berghuis; Antony, Tadic, Haller
We say: Feyenoord 2-3 Ajax
The sides boast an array of attacking talent, so we expect loads of goals in this one. We are also backing the visitors to come away with all three points, 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 Ajax win with a probability of 55.69%. A win for Feyenoord had a probability of 23.11% and a draw had a probability of 21.2%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (7.66%) and 0-1 (7.46%). The likeliest Feyenoord win was 2-1 (5.93%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.41%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Ajax would win this match.
