Looking to bounce back from a disappointing cup exit in midweek, FC Utrecht play host to Fortuna Sittard in round 24 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie campaign.
On the other hand, the away side make the journey to Stadion Galgenwaard aiming to avoid a third consecutive league defeat and get their season back on track.
Match preview
Utrecht were left red-faced in their KNVB-Beker quarter-final meeting against Tweede Divisie side Spakenburg, which ended in a 4-1 thrashing on Tuesday night.
Goals from Wimilio Vink and Luuk Admiraal left Michael Silberbauer's men with a mountain to climb before Anastasios Douvikas pulled one back, only for Masies Artien and Floris van der Linden to strike in the final 25 minutes of the game to put the result beyond doubt.
Prior to that, the Domstedelingen comprehensively beat Sparta Rotterdam 3-0 on Friday to move five points clear of eighth-placed RKC Waalwijk in the race for the final European spot in the Eredivisie table.
Up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are winless in the last four editions of this fixture and have only come out on top in one of 14 clashes since 2000.
Off the back of a first home defeat across all competitions since the turn of the year, Friday's hosts will be keen to get back to winning ways in front of their fans.
Fortuna Sittard fell to a 4-2 loss against league leaders Feyenoord in Sunday's encounter between the teams at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion.
First-half strikes from Mats Wieffer and Santiago Gimenez after Ximo Navarro's early own goal saw Julio Velazquez's men head into the break three down, although they did respond in the second half through goals from Deroy Duarte and Dimitrios Siovas either side of Igor Paixao's clincher.
With 26 points amassed from their 23 matches, the Fortunezen have dropped to 12th place in the standings but still hold a healthy eight-point gap over the bottom three.
Having let in five goals across their last two outings, Friday's visitors will need to keep things tight at the back to stand any chance of coming away with a positive result in this one.
Team News
Dutchmen Bas Dost and Calvin Raatsie remain out of contention for Utrecht through muscle and ankle problems respectively, with the former set to miss a ninth straight game.
Can Bozdogan and Django Warmerdam are also unavailable due to knee injuries, but Zakaria Labyad is fit again for selection having made his return to action last time out.
Fortuna's Ivo Pinto is yet to recuperate from an ankle problem which the defender sustained three weeks ago in a goalless draw against Sparta Rotterdam.
Burak Yilmaz has found the back of the net three times in his last four away outings for the visitors, making the 37-year-old one to keep an eye on.
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Van der Maarel, Sagnan, Van der Hoorn, Klabier; Brouwers, Toornstra; Boussaid, Van de Streek, Labyad; Douvikas
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Navarro, Guth, Siovas, Vita; Ferati, Duarte; Noslin, Ozyakup, Embalo; Yilmaz
We say: FC Utrecht 3-2 Fortuna Sittard
Given how shaky both of the teams' defensive units have been of late, a high-scoring affair could be on the cards here. That said, we expect the hosts to get the job done come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
