Vitesse will be looking to climb into the top four of the Eredivisie table when they welcome PEC Zwolle to the GelreDome on Tuesday evening.
Thomas Letsch's side will be looking to extend a seven-match unbeaten streak across all competitions, whereas rock-bottom Zwolle need results quickly to keep any hopes of survival alive.
Match preview
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Festive cheer will be rife amongst the Vitesse camp heading into their final game before the winter break, having enjoyed a hugely productive December so far.
The Arnhem outfit have won four and drawn one of their five games so far this calendar month, and will be firm favourites to make it a near-perfect month with victory over Zwolle on Tuesday.
Even when not playing, things have gone well for Vitesse, with UEFA's ruling on Monday that Tottenham Hotspur had forfeited their Europa Conference League match against Rennes meaning that Vitesse will be playing European football in the New Year.
There is still plenty to work on before they reconvene in January, though, with Letsch's side possessing both the worst attacking record and the worst defensive record in the Eredivisie's top seven this season.
A win on Tuesday will be expected given current form, but a clean sheet would be almost as valuable for a Vitesse side that has shut their opponents out just once in their last 12 games across all competitions.
It will come as good news to be facing a Zwolle side with by far the worst attacking record in the division, then, having scored just nine goals in their 17 outings so far this term.
Indeed, Zwolle prop up the rest by just about every important measure at the moment, posting the fewest points (six), wins (one) and goals, while losing the most games (13) and possessing the joint-worst goal difference (-22).
It has been a miserable campaign so far for the Blauwvingers, and new boss Dick Schreuder has struggled to turn things around since his appointment just over a month ago.
Zwolle have picked up just two more points from their five league games so far under Schreuder, although that does make up a third of their tally for the entire season.
A vast improvement is needed if Zwolle are to extend their decade-long stay in the top flight, although their hopes are already looking bleak with nine points separating them from guaranteed safety.
Second-from-bottom Sparta Rotterdam have double the number of points of Zwolle, who make the trip to Arnhem in midweek having picked up just a solitary point from their eight away games this season - unsurprisingly the worst away record in the league.
It looks increasingly like Zwolle will need a miracle to survive this season, and they will be hoping for the first step of that to come just before Christmas with victory on Tuesday.
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Team News
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Vitesse boast a near fully-fit squad for this match, with Oussama Tannane the only confirmed absentee due to personal reasons.
Twenty-one-year-old Lois Openda has been the home side's star so far this season, scoring nine goals in just 17 league outings - already only one short of his tally for the whole of last term.
Zwolle's own plight has not been help by a significant list of absentees, and as many as six first-team players could be missing for Tuesday's trip.
Daishawn Redan, Pelle Clement, Kenneth Paal, Sam Kersten and Dean Huilberts would ordinarily be regular members of the starting XI, but all of them will be absent for this game through injury.
There could be better news regarding Sai van Wermeskerken, with the defender nearing his return to fitness and potentially in contention for his first appearance of the season.
The visitors will be hoping for a festive boost from the aptly-named Eliano Reijnders, who is yet to open his account for the season having been forced into a deeper role than usual for much of the campaign.
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Doekhi, Rasmussen, Bazoer; Dasa, Bero, Huisman, Tronstad, Wittek; Buitink, Openda
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Van den Berg, Voet, Nakayama; Van Polen, Strieder, Reijnders, De Wit; Van den Belt; Adzic, Tedic
We say: Vitesse 3-0 PEC Zwolle
There is very little going for Zwolle in any game at the moment, so it is difficult to back them to get anything from Tuesday's trip to an in-form Vitesse side.
The hosts' defensive record may give Zwolle some hope, but their own attacking record is even worse and so a rare clean sheet could be in store during a comfortable win for Vitesse.
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 71.68%. A draw had a probability of 17.7% and a win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 10.64%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vitesse win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.53%) and 3-0 (9.61%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.41%), while for a PEC Zwolle win it was 0-1 (3.76%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 11.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Vitesse would win this match.
