Heerenveen and Cambuur go head-to-head in their final outing of 2022 at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday in matchday 14 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season.
The sides head into this one in contrasting forms with the hosts looking for a fourth win in five matches, while their visitors will be aiming to snap a three-game losing run.
Match preview
Heerenveen got the better of SBV Excelsior in a hard-fought 1-0 victory on Saturday when the teams squared off at Van Donge & De Roo Stadion.
Kees van Wonderen's men broke the deadlock in the 58th minute through Milan van Ewijk, and that was enough to come away with all three points in Rotterdam.
With 20 points from 13 outings so far, De Superfriezen are eighth in the Eredivisie table, one point behind FC Utrecht in the race for the last European spot.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have recorded just one win in the most recent five encounters between the teams.
Off the back of consecutive defeats in their last home two outings, Sunday's hosts will be keen to get themselves back on track in front of their fans.
Cambuur were beaten for the fourth Eredivisie game running following a narrow 1-0 defeat against Feyenoord at De Kuip on Thursday evening.
Quilindschy Hartman's fourth-minute opener proved to be the difference as Pascal Bosschaart's men failed to find the back of the net once again.
Having picked up just one of the last 15 points available, the Yellow-Blues have dropped down to 17th place in the league table and are now four points adrift of safety.
Currently with the joint-fewest goals scored away from home so far, Sunday's visitors will need to up the ante at the attacking end of the pitch to stand any chance of coming away with a positive result this weekend.
Team News
Twenty-one-year-old Maxim Gullit is out of contention for Cambuur due to a knee injury, while Robin Maulun remains sidelined with a muscle problem.
The away side will also be without the services of 23-year-old Jasper Ter Heide, who is set to sit out a sixth game on the bounce through injury.
Pawel Bochniewicz was forced off with an injury in the closing stages of Heerenveen's last outing, making the Poland international a doubt for this weekend's game.
Should Bochniewicz be deemed unfit to participate, Syb Van Ottele is the favourite to come into the lineup for what would be his sixth start of the season.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Kohlert, Bochniewicz, Van Beek, Van Ewijk; Tahiri, Al Hajj, Halilovic; Sarr, Van Hooijdonk, Olsson
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Virginia; Bangura, Bergsma, Tol, Mac-Intosch, Wermeskerken; Paulissen, Hoedemakers, Jacobs; Balk, Van der Water
We say: Heerenveen 2-1 Cambuur
The onus is more on Heerenveen to take control of proceedings and get the job done on their own patch. While we expect Cambuur to put up a good fight, we are backing the home side to claim a narrow win in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
