Fortuna Sittard will aim to continue their climb up the Eredivisie table on Friday, when they entertain Sparta Rotterdam.
The hosts have risen to 11th spot thanks to back-to-back league wins after a tough spell, while their visitors remain sixth having now gone unbeaten in their last eight top-flight outings.
Match preview
After narrowly avoiding relegation last season, Fortuna Sittard again experienced a tough first half to the Eredivisie campaign this time around, as after putting three consecutive wins on the board following five straight defeats to begin the term, they experienced another particularly tough run between mid-October and mid-January.
In that time, Julio Velazquez's side managed to put just one more league win on the board in eight attempts, while drawing three and suffering four further defeats, leaving them struggling at the bottom end of the division with just 16 points on the board from 17 outings.
Fortuna would then bounce back to winning ways at home to Heerenveen last Wednesday, as Umaro Embalo opened the scoring on the hour mark and Burak Yilmaz converted a penalty deep into injury time to wrap up the three-point haul, before they set out to make it consecutive triumphs at the weekend in a trip to strugglers Cambuur.
Their hosts went ahead in the first half through Mees Hoedemakers, and that lead lasted until the 75th minute, when Yilmaz drew Velazquez's men level with another goal from the penalty spot before Inigo Cordoba completed the turnaround with the decisive goal six minutes from time.
Given how tight the bottom half of the Eredivisie table remains at this stage of the campaign, Fortuna Sittard have quickly climbed to 11th spot thanks to their recent victories, and with RKC Waalwijk only leading them on goal difference and NEC just a single point better off in the top half, they will look to continue building momentum with a home triumph on Friday.
That will certainly be no easy task, though, as the visitors will make the trip with the aim of going nine games unbeaten in the Dutch top flight while also returning to winning ways.
Following a 14th-placed finish last time around, in which they only placed above Wednesday's opponents on goal difference, De Kasteelheren started the new term in much more positive fashion with 17 points coming from their opening 11 outings, and they have since improved further on that with a run of eight matches without a defeat, including four draws and four triumphs.
The first of those wins was indeed against Fortuna Sittard in October, as Arno Verschueren hit a brace and Vito van Crooij scored from the spot in a 3-1 home win, while their most recent three-point haul came away at Cambuur two weeks ago, with Maurice Steijn's men coming away with a 3-0 triumph thanks to goals from Tobias Lauritsen, Koki Saito and van Crooij.
Although they will certainly be pleased with their form in recent months, De Kasteelheren may be slightly disappointed by their two consecutive draws against RKC Waalwijk and NEC coming into Friday's contest, having been pegged back to 1-1 in the final 10 minutes of the latter, and Steijn's side will now be vying to return to winning ways with the chance to move level on points with fifth-placed FC Twente.
Team News
Fortuna Sittard only made one change for the weekend's meeting with Cambuur after the previous victory over Heerenveen, and after back-to-back wins, we should again see a very similar starting lineup, with vastly experienced forward Burak Yilmaz bound to lead the line having found the net from the penalty spot in each of their last four league games to take his tally to eight goals for the season in the Eredivisie.
He will have plenty of support in a 4-2-3-1 setup, with Inigo Cordoba again set to feature after hitting the winning goal on Sunday, while 21-year-old Umaro Embalo should keep his place on the opposite flank having impressed since his summer arrival from Benfica.
Kristijan Bistrovic and Arianit Ferati will continue their partnership at the base of the midfield, while the back four of Ivo Pinto, Rodrigo Guth, Dimitrios Siovas and George Cox should also remain untouched in front of stopper Ivor Pandur.
Sparta Rotterdam's line should again be led by Tobias Lauritsen, who has netted six league goals so far this term, while winger Vito van Crooij will also come in with plenty of confidence having hit the net seven times and provided six assists in 19 Eredivisie appearances this campaign.
Arno Verschueren is another major goal threat, having also contributed seven goals in just 16 league games from midfield, and he will again play a key role in the engine room, while a change will be required in the middle after Sven Mijnans departed to join PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, with defender Omar Rekik also leaving as his loan spell from Arsenal was brought to an end.
Centre-backs Bart Vriends and Adil Auassar were both forced off in the first half of the NEC draw, and while Vriends may be fit to start, Auassar is less likely to feature with Mike Eerdhuijzen expected to take his place.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Pinto, Guth, Siovas, Cox; Bistrovic, Ferati; Cordoba, Ozyakup, Embalo; Yilmaz
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Olij; Sambo, Vriends, Eerdhuijzen, Pinto; Verschueren, Kitolano, De Guzman; Namli, Lauritsen, Van Crooij
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam
Fortuna Sittard will have plenty of confidence from their back-to-back wins, but against a Sparta Rotterdam side who are particularly hard to beat, we see a draw as the most likely outcome on Friday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Sam Varley
