Gameweek three of the 2022-23 Eredivisie campaign sees Emmen entertain the challenge of FC Utrecht at De Oude Meerdijk on Saturday night.
Both teams could certainly do with a victory here as they have both failed to win any of their respective opening two league fixtures so far.
Match preview
Utrecht played out a second straight share of the spoils following a goalless stalemate versus Cambuur at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Saturday.
In all fairness, Henk Fraser's men were perhaps a tad lucky to come away with a point having been second-best to their opponents on the day.
Nonetheless, the Domstedelingen currently occupy ninth spot in the league table, adrift of the last European spot only by a single point.
Coming up next is the task of going head to head against an opposing side who have a marginally worse record in this fixture having lost three and won two of the previous five encounters.
Ahead of a daunting assignment against defending champions Ajax next Sunday, Saturday's visitors will be aiming to pick up a confidence-boosting victory here.
Off the back of an opening 4-1 thrashing against PSV Eindhoven in round one, Emmen secured their first point of the new season thanks to a 1-1 draw against RKC Waalwijk on Saturday.
Dick Lukkien's men opened the scoring just shy of the hour mark through Lucas Bernadou before they were pegged back by Julen Lobete in the penultimate minute of normal time.
The Eredivisie newcomers are 14th in the standings and will be keen to get their league journey up and running with all three points this weekend.
With six wins and two draws in their most recent eight home outings, Saturday's hosts will fancy themselves to get the job done in this one.
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Team News
Emmen's Lorenzo Burnet is ruled out of Saturday's contest with a foot injury, while Lentini Caciano also misses out through a muscle problem.
Mart Lieder remains sidelined for this weekend's hosts with a long-term knee injury which has kept the Dutchman out of action since the end of February.
Teun Bijleveld was fit enough to be named on the bench last time out but it remains to be seen if the forward would be deemed fit enough to take part here.
Tommy St Jago, Bart Ramselaar and Reda Akmum are currently battling with knee injuries and will not be available to feature for Utrecht in this one.
Meanwhile, Ramon Hendriks continues to face an extended spell on the treatment table due to a cruciate ligament rupture and the 21-year-old is still a considerable way off making his return.
Emmen possible starting lineup:
Oelschlagel; Veendorp, Araujo, Veldmate, Hardeveld; Vlak, Bernadou; Mendes, Romeny, Assehnoun; Zivkovic
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Sagnan, Viergever, Van der Maarel; Ter Avest, Booth, Brouwers, Boussaid, Van der Kust; Redan, Dost
We say: Emmen 0-1 FC Utrecht
Neither team is exactly brimming with confidence heading into the game so we are anticipating a nervy and tense affair. That said, we also fancy Utrecht to scrape a narrow come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
