On the back of respective stalemates in their last league outings, Groningen and Feyenoord face off against each other at the High Capital Mobility Stadium on Wednesday.
The game was initially scheduled to be played on February 7, but it was called off due to bad weather.
Match preview
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Feyenoord were unsuccessful in their quest for three league wins on the spin as they came behind from two goals down to secure a point against FC Twente on Sunday.
Dick Advocaat's men were behind after just 13 minutes thanks to Danilo's penalty, and the deficit was doubled barely 60 seconds later when Tyronne Ebuehi opened his account for the season to make it 2-0.
Jens Toornstra made life easier for his side by pulling one back before the break, allowing Steven Berghuis to level the contest with his fifth goal in his last five games against The Tukkers.
De Stadionclub remain fourth in the Eredivisie table, but they have lost ground on PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar, who they now trail by eight and four points respectively after the duo picked up wins in their respective games.
They have a chance to respond almost immediately with Wednesday's game in hand at a venue where they have not won on either of their last two visits.
Groningen were on the verge of a second consecutive league defeat away from home before Tomas Suslov intervened in the 82nd minute to earn his side a 1-1 draw.
Danny Buijs's men remain two places and four points behind Feyenoord in the aftermath of that result, and they also have a resurgent Utrecht side bearing down on them.
Trots van het Noorden were defeated 1-0 in November's reverse fixture between the sides, so they will be wary of the threat posed by Wednesday's visitors.
However, the hosts are yet to lose a home league game since the turn of the year, and they have only dropped points once in that time.
Groningen Eredivisie form: DLWLWD
Feyenoord Eredivisie form: LLLWWD
Feyenoord form (all competitions): LLWWLD
Team News
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Despite missing the last month of action due to an ankle problem, Ahmed El Messaoudi has scored the second most goals for Groningen this term, so his absence in this one is a big blow for them.
Arjen Robben's groin injury has made him miss major parts of his boyhood club's campaign, and it is still uncertain if he will feature again this season.
Feyenoord's Joao Teixeira has been sidelined for the past six weeks with a calf injury, but he is close to being available for selection once again.
Following his goal against Twente, Jens Toornstra has now been directly involved in at least one goal in each of his last four appearances in all competitions.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Padt; Gudmundsson, Van Hintum, Itakura, Angel Leal; Lundqvist, Van Kaam, Da Cruz; Suslov, Strand Larsen, El Hankouri
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Marsman; Geertruida, Spajic, Senesi, Malacia; Toornstra, Fer, Diemers; Berghuis, Jorgensen, Linssen
We say: Groningen 2-2 Feyenoord
The game has all the makings of an entertaining clash, and we expect it to pan out that way with goals at both ends, giving us a score draw in the end.
Top tip
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 Feyenoord win with a probability of 42.76%. A win for Groningen had a probability of 31.02% and a draw had a probability of 26.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Feyenoord win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.85%) and 0-2 (7.58%). The likeliest Groningen win was 1-0 (8.79%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.47%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood.
