Looking to preserve the only unbeaten record left in the 2022-23 Eredivisie season, AZ Alkmaar visit the Euroborg on Saturday evening to take on Groningen.
Meanwhile, the home side will head into this weekend's encounter aiming to return to winning ways having been defeated in their last outing before the international break.
Match preview
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AZ Alkmaar upset the odds in their heavyweight meeting against Ajax on September 18 which ended in a narrow 2-1 triumph at the AFAS Stadion.
After going behind to Mohammed Kudus's opener, Pascal Jansen's men hit back through Mees de Wit five minutes shy of half time before Jens Odgaard completed the turnaround in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Following their impressive victory, The Cheeseheads have moved up to third place in the league table, one point behind current leaders PSV Eindhoven.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have suffered just one defeat in the last five meetings between the teams since August 2019.
However, that defeat did come in the most recent encounter last December when Saturday's visitors claimed a 1-0 win over their hosts and exacted revenge for a 2-0 loss two months prior.
Groningen were beaten for the second time in three outings courtesy of a 2-1 defeat against Sparta Rotterdam at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel two Saturdays ago.
Frank Wormuth's men opened the scoring just past the hour mark through Ricardo Pepi before goals from Sven Mijnans and Vito van Crooy turned the game on its head.
Having picked up just four points from the last 12 available, Trots van het Noorden now sit 12th in the Eredivisie standings, a point off shy of the top half.
Off the back of seeing their five-match unbeaten streak on home turf come to an end, Saturday's hosts set out to avoid consecutive defeats in front of their fans for the first time since May.
Team News
Jan Hoekstra remains without an outing for Groningen since January due to a shoulder problem, and the goalkeeper is expected to be unavailable for this one.
Twenty-two-year-old Cyril Ngonge has missed his side's last two games with a muscle problem which is set to keep him out of Saturday's game as well.
Vangelis Pavlidis is unavailable for AZ Alkmaar due to a leg injury, while forward Jesper Karlsson continues to battle with a muscle injury.
The hosts are also set to be without Norway international Hakon Evjen, whose last appearance came against FC Twente on September 11.
In what was only his third game since returning to action, Bruno Martins Indi suffered a fresh injury setback against Ajax last time out, making him a doubt for this one.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Sverko, Te Wierik, Balker; Dybvik, Duarte, Pelupessy, Van Gelderen; Abraham, Suslov, Pepi
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Verhulst; Chatzidiakos, Kerkez, Dekker, Beukema; Reijnders, Clasie, D. De Wit; M. De Wit, Odgaard, Sugawara
We say: Groningen 1-2 AZ Alkmaar
Despite their poor record in this fixture of late, AZ boast a superior squad and will back themselves to get the job done this weekend, especially off the back of defeating the defending champions. We are backing the away side to carry the day here, albeit by only a narrow margin.
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