Fortuna Sittard host RKC Waalwijk in the Eredivisie on Tuesday, with the visitors looking to stay above their opponents in the table by avoiding defeat.
Sittard, meanwhile, have moved out of the relegation zone by remaining unbeaten in their last three matches, so will be looking to put further daylight between themselves and the bottom three.
Match preview
Indeed, after taking only three points from their opening 10 matches, it has been a remarkable turnaround in recent weeks for Sittard.
Sjors Ultee's side recorded back-to-back wins against Willem II and Heracles before taking a respectable point with a 1-1 draw at FC Utrecht on Saturday.
Sebastian Polter's fifth league goal of the season cancelled out Mimoun Mahi's opener for the hosts, with Sittard perhaps frustrated they could not go on to win after having more shots on target than their more established opponents.
If they perform as they have in recent weeks, Ultee's side will have every chance of picking up a result against their forthcoming opponents.
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Having been bottom of the table prior to the curtailment of all Dutch football last season due to the coronavirus pandemic, meanwhile, surviving relegation is the primary objective for Waalwijk this campaign.
Having amassed 12 points from their first 11 games, Fred Grim's side looked good value to do exactly that, although his side have since gone on to lose their last two games.
A 2-0 defeat at Groningen was followed up by a 4-1 home defeat to PSV on Saturday, although there is no shame in a defeat such as that to a side competing with Ajax for the title.
Grim must now ensure his players' heads do not drop ahead of a crucial encounter with a side just two points behind them.
Fortuna Sittard Eredivisie form: DLLWWD
RKC Waalwijk Eredivisie form: LDWWLL
Team News
Sittard appear to have no injury concerns ahead of Tuesday's encounter, but Lazaros Rota will miss out through suspension.
Ultee used only one substitute in the draw at Utrecht on Saturday, so may look to rotate his side given the quick turnaround between fixtures.
Waalwijk, meanwhile, have the luxury of no injury or suspension concerns, so Grim can pick his strongest possible side.
Top goalscorer Finn Stokkers will be looking to extend his tally for the campaign, having scored four goals in eight starts for the visitors.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Van Osch; Angha, Rienstra, Janssen, Cox; Seuntjens, Flemming, Tekie; Semedo, Polter, Hansson
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Bakari, Meulensteen, Touba, Quasten; Van der Venne, Anita, Tahiri; Ngonge, Stokkers, John
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-1 RKC Waalwijk
With both sides improving of late, we can envisage both managers being content with avoiding defeat as they look to move further clear of the relegation zone.
As such, it would be little surprise to see both sets of players play in a risk-averse manner.
Top betting tip
Brett Curtis
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 Fortuna Sittard win with a probability of 49.5%. A win for RKC Waalwijk had a probability of 27.16% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fortuna Sittard win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.61%) and 2-0 (7.61%). The likeliest RKC Waalwijk win was 1-2 (6.77%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.79%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Fortuna Sittard in this match.
