FC Twente and Heerenveen will be aiming to secure a much-needed return to winning ways in their meeting at De Grolsch Veste on Saturday night.
Both teams head into the clash having suffered defeat in each of their last two outings apiece, and neither of them will want to come away empty-handed from this weekend's game.
Match preview
© Reuters
Twente fell to a second away defeat on the bounce as they were beaten 3-1 by PSV Eindhoven when the sides went head-to-head at the Philips Stadion on Sunday.
Ron Jans's men fell behind to Fabio Silva's early opener but managed to level matters through Virgil Misidjan before goals from Luuk de Jong and Xavi Simons settled the contest.
As a result, the Tukkers have lost further ground in the race for the final automatic European spot and now sit seven points adrift of third-placed AZ Alkmaar in the Eredivisie table.
Their next assignment comes against an opposing outfit who have recorded only one win in the last five editions of this fixture since 2021.
Having let in the fewest goals on home turf in the entire division, Saturday's hosts will fancy themselves to put on another solid defensive display at the back to serve as a platform to build upon at the other end.
Heerenveen were dumped out of the KNVB Beker courtesy of a narrow 1-0 defeat against Feyenoord at De Kuip in Wednesday's quarter-final encounter.
Kees van Wonderen's men went behind to Santiago Gimenez's 80th-minute opener, and that proved to be the all-important moment in a tight affair.
Prior to that, De Superfriezen were thrashed 4-1 by RKC Waalwijk on Saturday which saw them drop to 10th in the standings, albeit outside the top half only on goal difference.
Off the back of consecutive victories on enemy territory leading up to Saturday's contest, the away side will make the journey to Enschede with the wind in their sails.
Team News
Heerenveen's Andries Noppert is set to miss a ninth straight game due to a hip injury, while Sven van Beek remains sidelined with a torn Achilles.
Anas Tahiri made his return to the starting XI last time out after consecutive matches on the bench, and the midfielder will be expected to retain his place in the lineup.
Wout Brama is ruled out for Twente with an ankle problem, while 21-year-old Mathias Kjolo is yet to make his recovery from a broken jawbone.
Michal Sadilek has struggled with a muscle problem over the last couple of weeks, and the Czech Republic international is a major injury doubt for Saturday.
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Smal, Propper, Hilgers, Brenet; Salah-Eddine, Zerrouki, Vlap; Cerny, Van Wolfswinkel, Misidjan
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mous; Van Ewijk, Bruma, Bochniewicz, Kohlert; Tahiri, Olsson; Nunnely, Al Hajj, Sahraoui; Van Hooijdonk
We say: FC Twente 3-1 Heerenveen
Twente have been in imperious goalscoring form on home turf this term, and we expect that trend to continue. We can also see the hosts strolling to a comfortable victory at the sound of the final whistle in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
