With both teams running out of time to preserve their Eredivisie status, Almere City and RKC Waalwijk will do battle at the Yanmar Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
Currently 11 and 10 points adrift of safety respectively, the hosts and visitors cannot afford too many slip-ups from here on out, and a loss this weekend edges them closer to dropping out of the top flight.
Match preview
© Imago
Needing 10 games to pick up their first league win of the campaign, the warning signs were there for Almere City early on, but they were just unable to stop a downward spiral that saw them lose six consecutive matches between early November and mid-December.
A 3-0 triumph over Heerenveen in their final outing of 2024, followed by a goalless stalemate against Groningen to kick off 2025, looked to have breathed life into De Zwarte Schapen's league campaign before a 2-0 defeat against Heracles on January 19 sent them crashing back down to earth.
With a division-low 10 goals scored across their 19 matches so far, Jeroen Rijsdijk's men have often been let down by their attacking toothlessness, which must be addressed going forward if they are to stand any chance of turning things around.
This weekend's meeting kicks off a crucial run of matches for Almere City ahead of upcoming clashes against heavy hitters FC Utrecht, Feyenoord and Ajax over the next month, either side of a meeting with fellow relegation candidates NEC.
Having lost just one of the last 12 games against Saturday's visitors, the home side have often had the upper hand in this matchup, although their only defeat since 2016 came in the most recent encounter following a 2-0 loss in this season's reverse fixture.
© Imago
Waalwijk were the only Eredivisie team to get their first victory of the campaign later than Almere, and given they lost each of their nine of their opening 10 matches, a winning run was needed to mitigate their poor start.
However, November's victory over Almere was followed by an eight-game league winless run, after which RKC claimed a 2-0 triumph over Willem II at the Mandemakers Stadion on Sunday thanks to a Tommy St Jago own goal and Tim van de Loo's second-half strike.
While Henk Fraser's men have fared significantly better than their upcoming opponents at the attacking end of the pitch, having scored double the amount of league goals, they have also been worse at the other end with a league-high 44 goals shipped.
Albeit with one more game played, Waalwijk will head into this weekend's crucial relegation six-pointer ahead of Almere in the Eredivisie table, but both teams are still at least six points shy of Sparta Rotterdam, who rounds off the bottom three as things stand.
One of two teams in the division without a league win on the road this term, Saturday's affair is as good a time as any for the visitors to finally get themselves going away from home with a much-needed three points.
Team News
© Imago
Having seen his goal drought for the season extend to 16 matches last time out, Almere's Junior Kadile could be dropped for this one with Kornelius Hansen waiting in the wings to take his place in the lineup.
In his second game back from a foot injury, Baptiste Guillaume was given an extended run out, although it remains to be seen if the 29-year-old will be deemed fit enough to start this weekend.
Nouri El Harmazi is still out of contention for Waalwijk as he continues his battle with a shoulder problem, while Yanick van Osch prepares to miss a 13th consecutive game through injury.
Dario Van den Buijs is without an appearance since December, and the defender is currently joined on the visitors' treatment table by Frenchman Daouda Weidmann.
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Zagaritis, Barbet, Visus, Akujobi; Haye, Tahiri; Van de Kamp, Robinet, Hansen: Brym
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Lelieveld, Familia-Castillo, Van Gelderen, Al Mazyani; Felida, Van de Loo, Oukili; Ihattaren, Zawada, Margaret
We say: Almere City 1-1 RKC Waalwijk
Given the quality of defending on display from both sides over the course of the season so far, it would be a huge surprise if either of them came away unbreached.
We are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
