The penultimate match of gameweek eight in the Eredivisie will come from Amsterdam's Johan Cruijff Arena, where Ajax will be playing host to Groningen on Sunday evening.
The hosts have only played five games this season but have managed 10 points, good for fifth place in the league standings, while the visitors are ninth with nine points in seven games.
Match preview
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After finishing the 2023-24 season with a late surge up the table, Ajax have begun the new campaign on a positive note and will be looking to go four matches unbeaten in the top flight this weekend.
Over their first five matches of the season, de Godenzonen have notched up three wins, one draw and a loss to NAC, before playing out a 1-1 draw against Slavia Prague in the Europa League in midweek.
Owing to the police strike in the Netherlands, Ajax have only played two league games at home this season and won both, and they have now gone three in a row across all competitions without conceding here at the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Additionally, during that three-match period, Francesco Farioli's side scored an impressive 12 goals, including four without response against Turkish giants Besiktas in their last fixture at this venue.
The hosts are unsurprisingly the clear favourites this week, having beaten this opponent 3-2 in their last meeting, which was a result that extended their winning record against Groningen to five in a row dating back to March 2021.
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Meanwhile, Eredivisie newcomers Groningen made a dream start to life in the top flight by securing back-to-back victories in their first two matches of the season against NAC Breda (4-1) and RKC Waalwijk (2-1).
However, they have been unable to keep up that record and are now aiming to avoid a sixth consecutive league match without victory following three draws on the bounce and two defeats ahead of this one.
Trots van het Noorden's most recent outing saw them fall 1-0 to a steadily improving Go Ahead Eagles side, with Oliver Valaker Edvardsen scoring the only goal of the match in the 75th minute.
On the road this season, Dick Lukkien's side have a mixed record with one win, one draw and one loss in three games, though they did manage to find the back of the net in each of those matches.
Team News
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Francesco Farioli has something of an injury crisis on his hands at present, with as many as nine players likely to miss out this weekend, starting with long-term absentee Gaston Avila who underwent surgery to his knee during the offseason.
Jordan Henderson picked up a groin strain against RKC Waalwijk and is set for a period on the sidelines. He will be joined by the likes of Wout Weghorst (hamstring), Steven Berghuis (knee), Julian Rijkhoff (knee) and Kian Fitz-Jim (knock), all of whom are only expected to return to action next month.
Groningen will also be short-handed this weekend with both Marvin Peersman and Brynjolfur Willumsson forced to sit this one out as they continue their bans after being sent off in the loss to Heerenveen.
In terms of potential injury absentees, midfielder Tika de Jonge and defender Marco Rente are flagged as doubts owing to knocks, though neither of them have been ruled out for the trip to Amsterdam just yet.
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Rensch, Sutalo, Baas, Hato; Klaassen, Van den Boomen, Taylor; Banel, Brobbey, Rasmussen
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Bacuna, Blokzijl, Stam, Prins; Schreuders, Resink, Hove, Valente; Postema, Van Bergen
We say: Ajax 2-1 Groningen
Despite Ajax's lengthy injury list, they have maintained an excellent record at home this season, and given the visitors' recent results and historic performances in this fixture, we feel the hosts should be able to come away with all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
