Level on points at the moment, Fortuna Sittard and Heracles go up against each other on Friday, kicking off round 21 of the Eredivisie.
Fortuna will be looking to complete a league double over Heracles, who they beat 2-1 in the reverse fixture in December, when the sides met at the Erve Asito.
Match preview
Fortuna Sittard have started the year on a high, winning four of their six league games so far, which has seen them move up to 12th in the Eredivisie table.
Sjors Ultee's men came out on top in an entertaining 3-2 affair versus VVV-Venlo last Saturday, which was their first home win of the year.
The midfield duo of Zian Flemming and Mats Seuntjens were on target for Fortuna once again, taking their combined tally of goals for the year to eight.
A win for the home side this weekend would take them not only above their visitors, but also into the top half for the time being at least.
Heracles are unbeaten in their last three Eredivisie games since losing 2-0 to FC Utrecht in mid-January, picking up seven points in that time.
Delano Burgzorg has been instrumental to that run, scoring in each of his last three games, including the winning goal in his side's narrow 1-0 victory over Groningen last Saturday.
He also scored a late winner in his side's win over Heerenveen a week earlier, and the Dutch forward is now up to five league goals, after scoring just two in his first 15 games of the campaign.
His renaissance could be key for Frank Wormuth's men as they look to put together a strong second half of the season.
With a trip to Ajax next for the Heraclieden, Friday represents an opportunity to pick up some points ahead of a tough encounter with the league leaders.
Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form: WLWLWW
Fortuna Sittard form (all competitions): LWLLWW
Heracles Eredivisie form: LWLWDW
Heracles form (all competitions): WLLWDW
Team News
Fortuna have no absentees for the game, but Sjors Ultee might contemplate making some changes to freshen things up in a bid to keep their good form going.
Kasper Lunding sustained a knock in Heracles' aforementioned defeat to Utrecht, and he is unavailable for the trip to Fortuna.
Mats Knoester marked his return to action with a substitute appearance versus Groningen last time out, but a start in this one would come too soon for him.
The away side will also have to cope with the absence of Navajo Bakboord, who has not featured this season as he remains sidelined with a muscle injury.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Van Osch; Cox, Tirpan, Angha, Rota; Hansson, Rienstra, Tekie, Semedo; Seuntjens, Flemming
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Quagliata, Propper, Rente, Breukers; Schoofs, Azzaoui, De La Torre; Van De Water, Vloet, Burgzorg
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-1 Heracles
Both teams seem to have turned a corner in recent weeks, and are in fine form at the moment. We expect a close game with little or nothing to choose from between the sides and ultimately, a share of the spoils.
Top betting tip
Adepoju Marvellous
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 Fortuna Sittard win with a probability of 43.75%. A win for Heracles had a probability of 30.73% and a draw had a probability of 25.5%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fortuna Sittard win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.01%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.04%) and 2-0 (7.48%). The likeliest Heracles win was 0-1 (8.12%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.11%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 8.1% likelihood.
