Fortuna Sittard and Groningen draw the curtain on round 27 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season with their meeting at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Sunday.
With both teams currently on a dry patch heading into the weekend, neither will want to come away empty-handed from what is set to be an enthralling affair.
Match preview
Fortuna were beaten for the fourth time in five matches following a narrow 2-1 defeat against FC Volendam at the Kras Stadion two Fridays ago.
Quickfire goals either side of half time from Carel Eiting and Oskar Buur left Julio Velazquez's men with a mountain to climb after which Tijjani Noslin pulled one back just past the hour mark.
As a result, the Fortunezen have dropped down to 12th place in the Eredivisie table but remain a whopping eight points clear of the relegation zone.
Up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose between the teams as the last six encounters have been evenly split into three wins apiece.
With daunting assignments against Ajax and AZ Alkmaar to follow Sunday's contest, the home side go in search of a morale-boosting win to help set the tone for a tough run of matches on the horizon.
Groningen suffered a third straight defeat without finding the back of the net courtesy of a 2-0 loss against Heerenveen at Euroborg on March 19.
Dennis van der Ree's men conceded two goals in a disastrous 13-minute spell late in the first half to Sydney van Hooijdonk, and that was enough to put them to the sword.
With 17 points picked up from their 26 matches, Trots van het Noorden sit bottom but one in the league standings, six points adrift of safety.
Having failed to win any of their seven outings on the road in 2023 - losing six of them - Sunday's visitors will be keen to turn their away fortunes around heading into the final phase of the season.
Team News
Paulos Abraham and Daleho Irandust are Groningen's only guaranteed absentees for this one, although the latter is closing in on a return to action.
Following a lengthy injury layoff, Nordin Musampa recently made his comeback for the away side and could be handed a place in the starting XI here.
Ricardo Pepi heads into this weekend's contest with the wind in his sails after netting three times in two games for the United States during the just-concluded international break.
Oguzhan Ozyakup has missed Sittard's most recent two outings with a hamstring problem, and the 30-year-old is also expected to sit out Sunday's match.
Dogan Erdogan was named on the hosts' bench last time out, but it remains to be seen whether the midfielder will be deemed fit enough to play a part in this one.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Cox, Siovas, Guth, Pinto; Duarte, Bistrovic; Cordoba, Buitink, Noslin; Yilmaz
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Willems, Sorensen, Blokzijl, Balker; Hove, Duarte, Suslov; Manu, Pepi, Maatta
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-1 Groningen
Fortuna have been defensively suspect at home all-season long, and we expect their net to ripple once again here. Groningen, meanwhile, have struggled for clean sheets on their travels, so we are tipping the sides to cancel each other out and come away with a point apiece.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
