RKC Waalwijk and Vitesse draw the curtain on matchday three of the Eredivisie season with their meeting at the Mandemakers Stadion on Sunday.
After opening-day victories for both teams, they have failed to win any of the subsequent two games and will be looking to get their campaign back on track.
Match preview
Vitesse suffered a second defeat on the bounce on August 29 when defending champions Ajax romped to an emphatic 5-0 triumph at the Johan Cruyff ArenA.
Antony, Edson Alvarez and Ryan Gravenberch all scored in the first half to leave Thomas Letsch's men with a mountain to climb, before an own goal from Tomas Hajek and a Davy Klaassen strike in the second period completed the rout.
Having picked up three points from as many games, the Arnhem-based outfit are in 14th place at the moment and are in need of a pick-me-up.
Awaiting them next is a meeting against an opposing side who they have defeated in four of the previous five encounters between the teams.
However, Sunday's visitors were held to a 1-1 draw in the most recent fixture back in January where they were pegged back in the final quarter of an hour.
Waalwijk avoided a second consecutive away defeat in six days as they played out a 2-2 stalemate against Fortuna Sittard two Fridays ago.
Joseph Oosting's men went behind to Samy Baghdadi's 23rd-minute opener before two goals from Michiel Kramer turned the game on its head, only for Mats Seuntjens to level the contest midway through the second period.
RKC are in ninth place on the log, just one point ahead of their next opponents ahead of this weekend's clash which has all the makings of an enthralling affair.
Going up against the side with the worst defensive record so far, Sunday's hosts will fancy their chances of emerging victorious in front of their fans.
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Team News
David Min and Luuk Wouters are Waalwijk's only absentees for the contest as they continue to nurse muscle and knee injuries respectively.
Michiel Kramer's double last time out means that he is now up to three Eredivisie goals in as many outings for the hosts since his summer move from ADO Den Haag.
Danilho Doekhi has not featured for Vitesse since damaging his knee in a Conference League qualifying game versus Irish outfit Dundalk a month ago.
Following his side's drubbing at the hands of Ajax, Thomas Letsch might contemplate making some alterations to his starting XI in a bid to spark a reaction.
The likes of Thomas Buitink and Patrick Vroegh could be given the nod right from the off this time around after both coming off the bench in the aforementioned match.
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Lutonda, Meulensteen, Gaari, Buttner; Anita, Azhil, Van der Venne; Odgaard, Bakari, Kramer
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Schubert; Hajek, Bazoer, Oroz; Wittek, Tronstad, Bero, Gboho, Dasa; Buitink, Openda
We say: RKC Waalwijk 1-2 Vitesse
Both teams are on a rough patch at the moment and a victory here for either side would be a very welcome result. We are anticipating an open and end-to-end match with the away side just edging their hosts by a narrow margin.
Top tip
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 Vitesse win with a probability of 45.56%. A win for RKC Waalwijk had a probability of 30.25% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vitesse win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.71%) and 0-2 (7.15%). The likeliest RKC Waalwijk win was 2-1 (7.3%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.27%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Vitesse in this match.
