Heerenveen play host to FC Twente on Friday evening with the opportunity to move level on points with their eighth-placed opponents.
While the home side are targeting a top-seven finish in the Eredivisie table, Twente will feel that victory will keep them in contention for Europa League qualification.
Match preview
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After a strong first half to the campaign, Twente were on course to challenge for a place in the top five, a considerable improvement on their 14th-placed finish during the last campaign.
However, just one win in 11 matches, which came at Champions-League chasing Vitesse, has left Ron Jans and his squad under pressure ahead of the run-in.
While finishing in the top half of the standings will be deemed acceptable in some quarters, Twente need to regain some momentum over the coming weeks.
Claiming six points from four matches had been a step in the right direction, but last weekend's 4-1 reverse at AZ Alkmaar has left Twente 11 points adrift of fifth-placed Feyenoord.
Like the visitors, Heerenveen have also been off the pace in the long term, recording just three wins in the Dutch top flight since the beginning of November.
Although each of those triumphs have come since January 27, Heerenveen have recently suffered heavy away defeats to lowly PEC Zwolle and Willem II.
Despite reaching the KNVB-Beker semi-finals, Johnny Jansen is fighting for his long-term future with De Superfriezen making little progress in their bid to become a top-six club.
Heerenveen have put together a five-match unbeaten streak at home in the league, a period which has lasted since January 10.
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Team News
Sherel Floranus, Rami Hajal and Benjamin Nygren are all in contention for a recall to the Heerenveen XI.
However, young forward Ulysses Llanez remains sidelined with the injury which has kept him out since the end of 2020.
The capitulation against AZ will almost certainly result in Jans making several alterations to his Twente starting lineup.
Wout Brama, Issah Abass and Luka Ilic will be considered for recalls after substitute outings last weekend.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Floranus, Hecke, Bochniewicz, Kaib; Halilovic, Schone; Nygren, J.Veerman, Bergen; H.Veerman
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Drommel; Ebuehi, Staring, Dumic, Oosterwolde; Bosch, Brama, Ilic; Narsingh, Danilo, Menig
We say: Heerenveen 2-2 FC Twente
Both teams have nothing to lose in this game, leading us to predict an entertaining contest. However, despite a draw not benefitting either side, these two clubs may have cancelled each other out come 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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 47.11%. A win for FC Twente had a probability of 27.7% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.32%) and 2-0 (8.22%). The likeliest FC Twente win was 0-1 (7.69%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.97%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood.
