Having picked up mixed results in recent games, Heerenveen and Vitesse clash at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday as the teams look to climb up the table.
Both sides were held to draws last time out, with Vitesse surprisingly dropping points to RKC Waalwijk last Saturday, while Heerenveen played out a 0-0 stalemate at FC Twente the following day.
Match preview
After ending a 12-game winless run with an emphatic 3-0 win against Feyenoord last Wednesday, Heerenveen have failed to build on that result, which looked to be a springboard for a good run of form.
Johnny Jansen's men currently sit ninth in the Eredivisie table with 26 points, 16 behind Saturday's visitors, who are in third place.
The sides played out a 1-1 draw in their first meeting of the season back in December, when they were both in very good form at the time.
Since then, Heerenveen have struggled to put together a run of consistent performances, while Vitesse have carried on and it is no surprise to see them behind only Ajax and PSV Eindhoven on the log.
After beginning the year with four league wins on the bounce, Vitesse have suffered a slight dip in form, failing to win any of the subsequent two.
However, they are still firmly in the title race, trailing current leaders Ajax by eight points with 14 games of the season to come including a meeting between the sides on the final day of the season.
Their home form has been the best in the division to date, five points clear of anyone else, but it is their away form that has been their major Achilles' heel.
Thomas Letsch's men will know that their form on the road must improve if a first-ever league title is to be delivered at the Gelredome.
Heerenveen Eredivisie form: LDDLWD
Heerenveen form (all competitions): DDWLWD
Vitesse Eredivisie form: WWWWLD
Vitesse form (all competitions): WWWWLD
Team News
With two goals in his last three games, Riechedly Bazoer has come up clutch for Vitesse, winning them their last four points courtesy of those goals.
His goalscoring exploits have helped in filling the void left by Lois Openda's barren run in front of goal, which is now up to six league games.
Nineteen-year-old Enrico Hernandez is ruled out for the away side with an ankle problem that he has been nursing since December.
Ulysses Llanez is Heerenveen's only absentee for the game as he works his way back to full fitness following his recovery from a muscle strain.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Kaib, Bochniewicz, Dresevic, Floranus; Veerman, Halilovic, De Jong; Nygren, Van Bergen, Veerman
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Wittek, Rasmussen, Bazoer, Doekhi, Dasa; Tannane, Bero, Bruns; Broja, Openda
We say: Heerenveen 1-2 Vitesse
Vitesse may not be in a position to win the title, but securing second place is a very realistic target and victories in games of this nature are a necessity if that is to be achieved.
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 Vitesse win with a probability of 53.02%. A win for Heerenveen had a probability of 24.48% and a draw had a probability of 22.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vitesse win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.53%) and 0-2 (8.03%). The likeliest Heerenveen win was 2-1 (6.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.33%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
