Matchday seven of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season concludes with a meeting between AZ Alkmaar and Ajax at the AFAS Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
The home side will be looking to maintain their 100% record in the league this term, while the visitors seek to preserve their unbeaten start to the new campaign.
Match preview
Ajax suffered a 2-1 defeat against Premier League giants Liverpool when the teams locked horns in the group stages of the Champions League on Tuesday.
After going behind to Mohamed Salah's opener, Alfred Schreuder's men hit back through Mohammed Kudus before conceding a late header to Joel Matip.
Prior to that, De Godenzonen claimed an empathic 5-0 victory over Heerenveen on Sunday and remain top of the pile in the Eredivisie standings.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who managed four of a possible six points from the two league meetings between the sides last term.
Fresh off the back of a first competitive loss on enemy territory since April, Sunday's visitors will be aiming to get themselves back on track away from home.
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AZ Alkmaar made it back to back wins in the Europa Conference League as they got the better of Vaduz thanks to a 4-1 thrashing on Thursday.
Pascal Jansen's men broke the deadlock through Yusuf Barasi in the 19th minute, but they were pegged back shortly afterwards by Anthony Goelzer before a late flurry of second-half goals from Sam Beukema, Yukinari Sugawara and Dani de Wit decided the contest.
However, the Cheeseheads were held to a 1-1 stalemate in their last domestic encounter against FC Twente and have now dropped to fourth place in the league table.
Currently on a run of nine victories and three draws in their most recent 12 games on home turf, Sunday's visitors are certainly no pushovers in front of their fans and will be confident of securing a positive result here.
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Team News
Vangelis Pavlidis remains ruled out for AZ Alkmaar due to a leg injury, while Sweden international Jesper Karlsson continues to nurse a muscle injury.
Midfielder Hakon Evjen missed the victory over Vaduz in midweek with an ankle problem which could see him sit out Sunday's contest as well.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old Bruno Martins Indi made his return to action in the aforementioned game and is expected to retain his place in the starting lineup.
Owen Wijndal and Mohammed Ihattaren are both unavailable for Ajax this weekend, but they are drawing increasingly closer to making a return to action.
With goals in each of his last four outings, Mohammed Kudus will be aiming to continue his hot streak in front of goal before leaving for national-team duty.
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Verhulst; Chatzidiakos, Kerkez, Dekker, Beukema; Reijnders, Clasie, De Wit; Barasi, Odgaard, Van Brederode
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Resnch, Timber, Bassey, Blind; Berghuis, Alvarez, Taylor; Tadic, Bergwijn, Kudus
We say: AZ Alkmaar 1-3 Ajax
Despite failing to win any of the league encounters between the teams last time out, Ajax have dominated this fixture to a large degree, and it is hard to foresee any other result rather than a win for them. While we expect AZ Alkmaar to give a good account of themselves, we are also backing the visitors to carry the day.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
