Two sides in highly contrasting forms square up at the Philips Stadion on Sunday when PSV Eindhoven play host to Heerenveen.
The home side head into the clash off the back of three wins on the bounce across all competitions, while the visitors are hoping to avoid a seventh consecutive defeat.
Match preview
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PSV have stolen a march in their Conference League tie against Israeli outfit Maccabi Tel Aviv courtesy of a 1-0 victory in the first leg on Thursday.
Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock in the 11th minute and that was enough to put Roger Schmidt's men in the driving seat ahead of next week's return leg.
The Rood-witten claimed an emphatic 5-0 victory over Vitesse in their last league outing on Saturday to remain within five points of league leaders Ajax.
Having won their last three matches by a combined score of 10-0, they will be brimming with confidence ahead of the visit of an opposing side yet to win any of the last seven meetings between the teams since 2018.
However, Sunday's hosts have come out on top in just two of the aforementioned seven clashes, with the other five ending in stalemates, including each of the most recent three encounters.
Heerenveen's downward spiral goes on following a 1-0 defeat to NEC Nijmegen at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday.
Elayis Tavsan's 41st-minute opener was enough to settle a cagey affair in which Ole Tobiasen's men were perhaps a tad unlucky to come away from empty-handed.
Despite having lost five consecutive Eredivisie matches, De Superfriezen remain 11th in the league table, six points above the drop zone and five away from the top half of the standings.
Currently with the third worst attacking record in the division, Sunday's visitors will need to rediscover their cutting edge in front of goal if they are to turn things around.
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Team News
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PSV's trio of Mees Kreekels, Shurandy Sambo and Ryan Thomas are all ruled out with knee injuries, while Andre Ramalho is yet to recover from a foot injury.
Olivier Boscagli and Ibrahim Sangare were absent in midweek due to suspension, but they are expected to be recalled to the starting XI for Sunday's game.
Cody Gakpo is on a three-game scoring streak at the moment, and the Dutchman is certainly one to look out for this weekend.
Siem de Jong was subbed off in the first half of his side's defeat to NEC last time out, and the midfielder is a major doubt for Heerenveen.
Pawel Bochniewicz is a guaranteed absentee as the 26-year-old continues to nurse a knee problem which has seen him fail to feature this term.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Drommel; Mauro, Boscagli, Teze, Mwene; Sangare, Gutierrez, Gotze; Gakpo, Zahavi, Madueke
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mous; Van Ewijk, Dresevic, Bakker, Woudenberg; Haye, Madsen, Tahiri; Sarr, Al Hajj, Van Hooijdonk
We say: PSV Eindhoven 2-0 Heerenveen
Heerenveen have been abysmal in recent weeks and will do well to come away from Sunday's game undefeated against a PSV side who we fancy to emerge triumphant at the sound of the final whistle.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 70.15%. A draw had a probability of 17.4% and a win for Heerenveen had a probability of 12.47%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.6%) and 1-0 (9.05%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.1%), while for a Heerenveen win it was 1-2 (3.63%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 7.6% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that PSV Eindhoven would win this match.
