Sparta Rotterdam take on Feyenoord at Het Kasteel in their opening home game of the Eredivisie season on Sunday afternoon.
In what is sure to be a fiercely-contested Rotterdam derby, the hosts are looking to make it two wins from two in the 2023-24 campaign, while the visitors are hoping to get their first win on the board.
Match preview
Sparta kicked off with a win on the opening day of the season, closing out a 2-1 victory away at PEC Zwolle after a nervy final 10 minutes, with the hosts pulling back a late goal.
The Castle Lords ultimately managed to hold out and pick up three points to start their season in perfect style, as they look to build on a solid sixth-placed finish last term, having finished 14th in the prior campaign.
Under the helm of Maurice Stein, the Rotterdam-based club have made year-on-year progress, but it is now the start of a new era, with Stein's former assistant, Jeroen Rijsdijk, being placed in charge at Het Kasteel.
Rijsdijk did an impressive job in pre-season, with his side winning five of their six friendlies, but the real work starts now, and he could not have asked for a more difficult home game to begin with.
Sparta are poised to face off against last season's title winners and their bitter rivals, who they have a very poor recent record against, losing the last six matches between the two sides, and failing to score in four of those.
Indeed, Feyenoord have been very dominant against their rivals historically, and they were by far the best team in the Eredivisie last season, winning the league by seven points.
Much to the delight of the fans, Arne Slot has committed his future to the club by signing a new contract, and his side chalked up some impressive victories in pre-season, defeating Club Brugge and Benfica.
However, it will be very difficult for De club aan de Maas to replicate such a spectacular 2022-23 campaign, and they have not got off to the best of starts now that they are back in competitive action, failing to score a goal in their two games up to this point.
Feyenoord lost the Super Cup against 2022-23 KNVB Beker winners PSV Eindhoven in their opening game of the season, before drawing 0-0 at home against Fortuna Sittard in their first Eredivisie game.
Slot's side were reduced to 10 men in the first half, with Bart Nieuwkoop being given his marching orders, so they ultimately came away relatively unscathed by getting a point on the board, but the manager will be looking for a much-improved performance this weekend.
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Team News
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Sparta Rotterdam may adopt a more defensive game plan against last season's title winners, but they have no reason to make any changes to the starting lineup, with Rijsdijk set to utilise a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Tobias Lauritsen is Sparta's danger man in attack, having already got off the mark this season, and the 25-year-old is poised to lead the line, being supported by Arno Verschueren, who scored nine league goals last season, in an attacking midfield role.
As for Feyenoord, Slot will have to re-jig his defence slightly after Nieuwkoop's red card, with Thomas Beelen set to come into the side.
Slot has no fresh injury concerns to deal with, but he could choose to make some alterations in attacking areas, given that his side have not scored in the last two games, with Yankuba Minteh potentially replacing Igor Paixao at left-wing.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Olij; Bakari, Vriends, Velthuis, Warmerdam; Kitolano, De Guzman, Clement, Verschueren, Van Crooij; Lauritsen
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Bijlow; Beelen, Geertruida, Hancko; Hartman; Wieffer, Zerrouki, Timber; Stengs, Minteh, Gimenez
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 0-2 Feyenoord
Feyenoord have the perfect opportunity to pick up a morale-boosting victory against their local rivals, and we expect them to record a fairly comfortable win.
Although Sparta Rotterdam picked up three points in their opening game, there is a big gap in quality between the two sides, with Feyenoord coming out on top in the last six encounters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Dominic Lund
