Sparta Rotterdam are set to welcome PSV Eindhoven on Saturday afternoon, with the home side winning 1-0 against Fortuna Sittard in their previous league fixture.
Meanwhile, PSV will be hoping to get back to winning ways after failing to secure a win in their last two games, including a 3-1 loss against AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday.
Match preview
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Sparta have endured a mediocre 2020-21 season thus far, having registered six wins and seven defeats in their opening 16 games.
As previously mentioned, their latest result witnessed a narrow win against Sittard, with Lennart Thy scoring the only goal of the game.
This means that Henk Fraser's men occupy eighth place in the table, but are six points behind Groningen, with Danny Buijs's side currently possessing a game in hand.
They will need a win this Saturday if they plan on closing that gap, however Sparta have failed to win their last two games at home, with the team performing better on the road in recent weeks.
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PSV, on the other hand, have not won since their 4-1 triumph against VVV-Venlo in December - suffering a 3-1 loss to AZ on Wednesday, resulting in their first home defeat of the season.
It is also worth noting that they picked up a 2-2 draw against league leaders Ajax last week, despite being 2-0 ahead within the first 20 minutes of the game.
They are also unbeaten in their previous four away games, however three of these have been draws.
Roger Schmidt's men currently sit in fourth place in the table, just one point behind Vitesse, having secured 10 league wins as they head into matchday 17.
These two teams last met just two months ago when PSV managed a narrow 1-0 win against Sparta, with Donyell Malen netting the only goal of the game.
Sparta Rotterdam Eredivisie form: WLWLWW
PSV Eindhoven Eredivisie form: LDWWWD
PSV Eindhoven form (all competitions): LDWWWW
Team News
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Sparta have just one injury concern when they take on PSV this weekend, with goalkeeper Tim Coremans currently nursing a knee problem.
Fraser is expected to field the same side that won against Sittard earlier this week, keeping Thy up front, with the striker netting in their recent victory.
PSV, however, have a list of players expected to miss the upcoming game, including Mario Gotze, who is currently sidelined with a muscle problem.
Both Cody Gakpo and Richard Ledezma are also ruled out, with Maximiliano Romero set to miss the rest of the season.
However, PSV fans may be pleased to hear that Chelsea loanee Marco Van Ginkel finally returned to action on Wednesday, after a lengthy spell on the sidelines. The Dutchman could make the bench this weekend.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Abels, Beugelsdijk, Heylen, Pinto; Mijnans, Harroui, Auassar, Duarte; Engels, Thy
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Dumfries, Teze, Boscagli, Max; Sangare, Rosario; Thomas, Ihattaren; Zahavi, Malen
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 1-3 PSV Eindhoven
Despite their recent defeat, we expect PSV to claim a comfortable victory when they travel to Rotterdam, with the visitors currently 13 points ahead of their opponents. However, Sparta should get at least one goal this weekend as PSV continue to highlight their defensive issues, having conceded seven goals in their last four games.
Top betting 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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 61.3%. A draw had a probability of 19.8% and a win for Sparta Rotterdam had a probability of 18.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (8.48%) and 0-1 (7.68%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.84%), while for a Sparta Rotterdam win it was 2-1 (5.09%). The actual scoreline of 3-5 was predicted with a 0.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that PSV Eindhoven would win this match.
