Albeit for very different reasons, Emmen and Sparta Rotterdam will be looking to record a crucial victory in their encounter at De Oude Meerdijk on Saturday.
For the home side, exacting revenge on their visitors will also be on the agenda off the back of a 4-1 defeat in October's reverse fixture.
Match preview
Emmen snapped a barren run of seven games across all competitions without a victory in grand style by beating SBV Excelsior 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Dick Lukkien's men broke the deadlock just past the hour mark through Ole ter Haar Romeny after which the forward grabbed his second of the match eight minutes later to put the result beyond doubt.
Consequently, the Kannibals have moved out of the bottom three into 15th place in the Eredivisie table, one point clear of relegation danger.
Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are without a defeat in the most recent five meetings between the teams, winning four of them.
Unbeaten in all but one of their last 12 matches on home turf, Saturday's hosts have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack in front of their fans.
Sparta Rotterdam made it back to back wins courtesy of a convincing 3-1 triumph over Vitesse at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel on Saturday.
Maurice Steijn's men trailed to Dominik Oroz's seventh-minute strike but managed to level matters through Arno Verschueren before Koki Saito and Joshua Kitolano completed the turnaround with late goals in either half.
That victory has seen De Kasteelheren increase their tally after 25 games to 43 points, 11 clear of RKC Waalwijk in the race for continental qualification.
Currently with the third-best defensive record in away matches, Saturday's visitors will be aiming to keep things tight at the back as they target back to back wins on the road for the first time in 2023.
Team News
The Dutch trio of Jeff Hardeveld, Mart Lieder and Maikel Kieftenbeld are all ruled out of contention for Emmen as they continue to battle with knee injuries.
Oussama Darfalou and Metehan Guclu also miss out for the hosts due to injury, while 23-year-old Rui-Jorge Mendes prepares to sit out a ninth game on the bounce.
Sparta's Adil Auassar will serve the final of his three-game suspension this weekend, making him the only guaranteed absentee for the away side.
Vito van Crooy has assisted four goals in his last two outings, and the midfielder will be seeking to come up with another creative masterclass.
Emmen possible starting lineup:
Van der Hart; Dirksen, Vos, Araujo, Te Wierik; Veendorp, Bernadou; Romeny, Diemers, Antonisse; Zivkovic
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Olij; Pinto, Eerdhuijzen, Vriends, Sambo; Kitolano, Van Mullem; Van Crooy, Verschueren, Saito; Lauritsen
We say: Emmen 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam
Sparta have had the upper hand in this fixture of late, but they have not claimed an away win over their hosts since 2015. We are backing a share of the spoils with the teams settling for a point apiece come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
