Looking to record consecutive league victories for the first time this season, Heerenveen visit the Het Kasteel on Sunday to face off against Sparta Rotterdam.
On the other hand, Sparta set out to make it three home wins in four matches and continue their escape from relegation danger.
Match preview
© Reuters
Sparta had to make do with a share of the spoils in their clash against NEC at Stadion de Goffert on March 19, which ended in a goalless stalemate.
Henk Fraser's men had their backs against the wall for the majority of the contest but held firm to secure a hard-fought point in Nijmegen.
De Kasteelheren are bottom but one in the Eredivisie table, two points away from safety with as many games in hand on 15th-placed Willem II.
Awaiting the Rotterdam-based club next is the visit of an opposing side who have lost just one of the last seven meetings between the teams stretching back to 2017.
Sunday's hosts have not lost on home turf to any team outside the current top seven since September, and they will be confident of coming out on top this weekend.
Heerenveen picked up their first home league victory in seven matches by seeing off the threat of Heracles in a routine 2-0 victory two Fridays ago.
Amin Sarr broke the deadlock just shy of the hour mark before Nick Bakker sealed the deal for Johnny Jansen's men two minutes from time at the Abe Lenstra Stadion.
Consequently, De Superfriezen have moved up to 11th in the league standings and are now just three points shy of a place in the top half.
Having failed to come out on top in five away outings since the turn of the year, Sunday's visitors will be keen to end their barren run on the road.
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
- L
- L
- L
- D
- D
- W
- L
- L
- D
- D
- W
- W
Team News
Pawel Bochniewicz remains sidelined with a long-term knee problem, and the defender is expected to be ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Djenahro Nunumete is also unavailable for this weekend's visitors due to an ankle problem which has seen him miss each of the last seven games.
Amin Sarr opened his Heerenveen account at the sixth time of asking last time out, and the 21-year-old will be looking to pick up where he left off.
Sparta's Maduka Okoye is a doubt for this one after the goalkeeper missed both of Nigeria's World Cup qualifiers through illness.
Tim Coremans is on standby and ready to make his fourth start of the campaign should Okoye be deemed unfit to feature between the sticks.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Coremans; Durmisi, Auassar, Vriends, Abels; Van Crooy, De Kamps, Verschueren, Namli; Thy, Engels
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Van Beek, Bakker, Van Aken; Van Ewijk, Haye, Tahiri, Kaib; Halilovic, Van Hooijdonk, Sarr
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 1-0 Heerenveen
Both teams have struggled in attack all-season long, so we expect a low-scoring affair in this one. That said, we fancy the home side to narrowly edge their visitors and come away with all three points.
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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 38.93%. A win for Sparta Rotterdam had a probability of 34.21% and a draw had a probability of 26.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.35%) and 0-2 (6.91%). The likeliest Sparta Rotterdam win was 1-0 (9.76%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.76%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.8% likelihood.
