Round seven of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season gets underway on Saturday when Willem II welcome PSV Eindhoven to the Koning Willem II Stadion.
The sides currently find themselves at the top end of the league standings following strong starts to the campaign, and this weekend's game has all the makings of an absorbing contest.
Match preview
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PSV battled past Go Ahead Eagles in a 2-1 win at the De Adelaarshorst to return to winning ways off the back of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Feyenoord.
Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock with a quarter of an hour gone but Inigo Cordoba restored parity 10 minutes into the second half, before Marco Van Ginkel decided the game with an 86th-minute winner.
The Rood-witten remain within a point of Ajax at the top of the pile and two ahead of this weekend's opponents who are in third place as things stand.
Awaiting Roger Schmidt's men next is a trip to a venue where they have lost only one of their last four games, claiming a 2-0 win on their most recent travel.
With the only remaining 100% record away from home this term, Saturday's visitors will be looking to pick up another victory on the road.
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Willem II recorded a second consecutive 2-1 victory in the space of three days as they narrowly edged out RKC Waalwijk at the Mandemakers Stadion.
Two goals in an eight-minute second-half spell from Kwasi Okyere Wriedt and Mats Kohlert put Fred Grim's men in the box seat, before Melle Meulensteen pulled one back for his side in the final minute.
The Superkruiken have bounced back superbly from an opening-day defeat to Feyenoord and have won four of the subsequent five games, dropping just two points in that time.
After narrowly escaping relegation last season, Saturday's hosts now look set for a far more productive campaign based on recent evidence.
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Team News
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Nineteen-year-old Noni Madueke is a doubt for his side's trip to Tilburg this weekend after hobbling off with a slight knock versus Go Ahead Eagles.
Cody Gakpo was involved in both of PSV's goals in the aforementioned game and is expected to keep his place in attack alongside Eran Zahavi.
Joel Drommel has featured between the sticks for the past three games, but Yvon Mvogo might be recalled back into the starting XI for this one.
Willem's Wesley Spieringhs is ruled out with a knee injury which he picked up in a friendly versus Belgian side KV Mechelen earlier in the month.
Ghanaian forward Kwasi Okyere Wriedt heads into the game on a two-game scoring streak, and he will be looking to deliver the goods for the hosts once again.
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Van den Berg; Owusu, Jenssen, Heerkens, Kohn; Saglam, Saddiki, Llonch; Kohlert, Okyere Wriedt, Nunnely
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Max, Obispo, Ramalho, Teze; Boscagli, Van Ginkel, Thomas; Gakpo, Zahavi, Bruma
We say: Willem II 0-2 PSV Eindhoven
PSV were not at their best last time out but still had the wherewithal to secure all three points. While we expect a more convincing performance this time around, we are also backing the away side to coast to victory at the full-time whistle.
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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 61.02%. A draw had a probability of 21.6% and a win for Willem II had a probability of 17.37%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.77%) and 1-2 (9.91%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.26%), while for a Willem II win it was 1-0 (5.32%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 4.7% likelihood.
