Eredivisie champions Ajax and fourth-placed Vitesse meet on Sunday at the GelreDome in a repeat of this season's KNVB-Beker final.
This is the third meeting between the sides this season, with Ajax winning each of the previous two by a 2-1 scoreline.
Match preview
© Reuters
Ajax cruised to a fourth consecutive league win on Thursday when they beat relegation-threatened VVV-Venlo 3-1 at the Johan Cruyff ArenA.
Devyne Rensch and Sebastien Haller put Erik ten Hag's men on course for victory, before Mohammed Kudus added a third moments after Giorgos Giakoumakis had halved the deficit.
De Godenzonen have now racked up 99 league goals this term and will fancy themselves to take that tally into triple figures.
With 41 points from a possible 48, the 35-time champions have amassed at least eight more points on the road than any other side in the division.
Sunday's visitors have enjoyed yet another productive campaign where they have secured a domestic double after last month's cup final triumph.
Vitesse's struggles away from home continued as they were made to fight hard for a 3-3 draw against Fortuna Sittard on Thursday.
Thomas Letsch's men were saved on the brink of defeat by Lois Openda's 94th-minute equaliser in a game where they trailed twice.
Vitas have the best defensive record on home turf this term, but they have shipped 11 goals in their last four home games against Sunday's opponents.
- W
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
- D
- L
- D
- W
- L
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Eighteen-year-old Kenneth Taylor was sent off within 10 minutes of his introduction last time out, and he is suspended for the game.
Daley Blind sustained an ankle injury while on international duty, and he is expected to be unavailable for the champions' trip to Arnhem.
Andre Onana has been banned from all footballing activities until February 2022 after testing positive for Furosemide in a drug test that was conducted in October.
Vitesse's Patrick Vroegh is ruled out of the clash due to a muscle problem which he sustained after coming on as a second-half substitute three weeks ago.
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Wittek, Hajek, Bazoer, Doekhi, Oroz; Tannane, Bero, Bruns; Broja, Openda
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Stekelenburg; Martinez, Timber, Tagliafico, Rensch; Gravenberch, Alvarez, Klaassen; Tadic, Haller, Antony
We say: Vitesse 1-3 Ajax
Since securing the league title, Ajax have shown no signs of taking their foot off the gas. We are backing them to claim all three points in this one and sign off the season in grand style.
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 47.48%. A win for Vitesse had a probability of 27.86% and a draw had a probability of 24.7%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.4%) and 0-2 (7.99%). The likeliest Vitesse win was 1-0 (7.23%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.66%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 5.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Ajax would win this match.
