Two teams in dire need of a pick-me-up face off on Saturday as Fortuna Sittard play host to Heerenveen in matchday 21 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season.
The hosts are currently on a run of six games without a victory, while the visitors are looking to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions.
Match preview
Fortuna Sittard still await their first victory of the new year following a 2-1 loss against RKC Waalwijk at the Mandemakers Stadion on January 23.
Sjors Ultee's men were stunned early on as they fell two goals behind in the first 20 minutes thanks to strikes from Jurien Gaari and Michiel Kramer before pulling one back through Mats Seuntjens.
The Fortunezen are bottom but one in the Eredivisie table as things stand, five points away from safety with 14 rounds of matches left to play.
Lying in store next for them is a clash versus an opposing outfit against whom they have enjoyed mixed fortunes, losing and winning two games apiece in the last four clashes.
However, Saturday's hosts fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture back in September and will be keen to exact revenge this weekend.
Heerenveen suffered a third consecutive defeat at the Abe Lenstra Stadion as they were beaten 1-0 by bottom club PEC Zwolle two Saturdays ago.
The game was decided in the early exchanges as Bram van Polen converted an 11th-minute penalty to put Johnny Jansen's men to the sword.
A return of 25 points from 20 outings this term leaves De Superfriezen in 10th position as things stand, albeit only a place and a point off the top half.
Only league leaders Ajax and Feyenoord have let in fewer goals on the road than Saturday's visitors, who have often seen their defensive solidity yield little result due to their struggles in front of goal.
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Team News
Henk Veerman and Joey Veerman both combined for the winning goal in the reverse fixture but will not play any part in this weekend's contest having completed winter moves to Utrecht and PSV respectively.
Polish defender Pawel Bochniewicz still awaits his first appearance of the season as he remains on the sidelines due to a long-term knee injury.
Lisandro Semedo could be back in time for this one after his Africa Cup of Nations journey with the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde came to an end on January 25.
Fortuna's Samy Baghdadi has missed each of his side's last five games due to a muscle problem, making the 24-year-old a major doubt for Saturday.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Cox, Janssen, Lonwijk, Angha, Tirpan; Rienstra, Duarte, Samaris; Flemming, Seuntjens
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mous; Van Ewijk, Van Beek, Bakker, Kaib; Madsen, Halilovic, Tahiri; Musaba, De Jong, Stevanovic
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-2 Heerenveen
The home side have been all over the place defensively all-season long, which is something that the visitors will be looking to capitalise on. We fancy Heerenveen to carry the day at the end of the 90 minutes.
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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 42.11%. A win for Fortuna Sittard had a probability of 32.38% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.88%) and 0-2 (7.07%). The likeliest Fortuna Sittard win was 1-0 (8.23%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.08%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 5.2% likelihood.
