Ajax will be looking to win their first Champions League match of the 2020-21 season when they travel to Denmark to face FC Midtjylland on Tuesday night.
The Dutch outfit are currently third in Group D with one point to show from their two matches, while Midtjylland are bottom of the section, having lost their first two fixtures against Atalanta BC and Liverpool..
Match preview
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Midtjylland made a disappointing start to their 2020-21 Champions League campaign, suffering a 4-0 home defeat to Atalanta on October 21, before losing 2-0 away to Liverpool last week.
The Danish outfit last competed in group stages of a European competition back in 2015-16, finishing as runners-up in their Europa League section before being eliminated by Manchester United in the round of 32.
The champions of Denmark have only been victorious in three of their last eight home European matches, while they are now eight European games without a win, suffering three defeats in the process.
Brian Priske's side will perhaps view this match as their best chance to put three points on the board, and a win would hand them confidence as they attempt to battle for a third. Ajax will be determined to get their campaign up and running, though, and Midtjylland will also enter this game off the back of a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Nordsjaelland in the league on Saturday.
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Ajax, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 5-2 win over Fortuna Sittard in the league on Saturday, which has left them top of the Eredivisie with 18 points to show from their seven matches.
The Dutch giants also famously ran out 13-0 winners over VVV Venlo in the league towards the end of October, but they are yet to ignite their Champions League challenge in 2020-21.
Erik ten Hag's side suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in their opener on October 21 but did manage to pick up a welcome point away to Atalanta last week.
Ajax have work to do in the section, though, and there is no question that they will be eyeing six points from their next two matches with Midtjylland ahead of a difficult trip to Liverpool at the start of December.
I Lancieri have actually only qualified from their Champions League group in one of their last seven appearances in the competition but that particular campaign - 2018-19 - saw them reach the semi-finals.
FC Midtjylland Champions League form: WWDWLL
FC Midtjylland form (all competitions): DWLWLL
Ajax Champions League form: LDWLLD
Ajax form (all competitions): LWLWDW
Team News
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Midtjylland could be unchanged from the defeat to Liverpool last week, with Guinea international Sory Kaba again expected to operate at the tip of the attack.
Pione Sisto re-joined the Danish club from Celta Vigo over the summer and is also likely to feature in the final third of the field, while Anders Dreyer should also retain his position in the XI.
The home side have no fresh injury concerns ahead of the European contest, although head coach Priske will reportedly monitor the fitness of a number of his players in the build-up to the match following Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Nordsjaelland.
As for Ajax, there will have to be a serious reshuffle following the news that 11 players tested positive for coronavirus ahead of the Champions League affair.
The club have not named the individuals who have been diagnosed with the virus but only 17 players have made the trip to Denmark, with Ryan Gravenberch, Davy Klaassen, Dusan Tadic, Andre Onana and Maarten Stekelenburg all missing out.
Brazilian attacker Antony recovered from injury to feature in the league on Saturday and should start in attack, but Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is again expected to be named on the bench for this match.
David Neres now appears to have fully overcome a knee injury and should be included in the XI, while there will be a start between the sticks for third-choice goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen.
FC Midtjylland possible starting lineup:
Andersen; Andersson, Sviatchenko, Scholz, Paulinho; Cajuste, Onyeka; Dreyer, Sisto, Mabil; Kaba
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Scherpen; Mazraoui, Schuurs, Martinez, Tagliafico; Ekkelenkamp, Blind, Promes; Neres, Traore, Antony
We say: FC Midtjylland 0-2 Ajax
Ajax will enter the match off the back of an impressive league victory on Saturday, but they are yet to pick up a Champions League win. Ten Hag's side will be fired up to triumph in Denmark, and we are finding it difficult to look past them, backing a relatively routine 2-0 success.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 2.5:data
Matt Law
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 Ajax win with a probability of 49.8%. A win for FC Midtjylland had a probability of 27.69% and a draw had a probability of 22.5%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (7.45%) and 0-2 (6.99%). The likeliest FC Midtjylland win was 2-1 (6.79%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.06%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-2 win for Ajax in this match.
