FC Twente and FC Utrecht get round four of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season underway with their meeting at the Grolsch Veste Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts are still searching for their first win of the season, while the visitors have picked up maximum points in two of their three outings to date.
Match preview
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Twente were beaten away from home for the second game running as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against newly-promoted Cambuur at the Cambuur-Stadion on August 28.
Ron Jans's men played the majority of the second half with 10 men and ended up leaving Leeuwarden empty-handed after conceding two times to Jamie Jacobs.
The Tukkers have now failed to win any of their seven games this term, so it is no surprise to see them just hovering above the drop zone on goal difference.
Awaiting them next is a crunch clash against a Utrecht side who have come out on top in each of the last three meetings between the teams.
Saturday's hosts, whose last victory came on home turf at the back end of last season, will hope to get up and running in front of their fans this weekend.
Utrecht made it two home victories from as many outings as they claimed a 3-1 win over Feyenoord at the Stadion Galgenwaard two Sundays ago.
Rene Hake's men went behind to Luis Sinisterra's strike in the final minute of the first half but restored parity moments later through Willem Janssen, before second-half goals from Moussa Sylla and Simon Gustafsson turned the game on its head.
The Domstedelingen are in third place at the moment, level on points with defending champions Ajax and two behind last season's runners-up PSV Eindhoven.
Saturday's visitors also breezed past Belgian side Cercle Brugge in a 3-1 triumph on Thursday and head into the clash in Enschede with the wind in their sails.
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Team News
Luka Ilic was shown a straight red card in his side's defeat to Cambuur last time out, and he will serve the first of a three-game suspension.
Greek winger Dimitris Limnios is expected to come into the XI as a result of Ilic's unavailability, shrugging off competition from the likes of Denilho Cleonise.
The duo of Vaclav Cerny and Jody Lukoki are ruled out with knee injuries, while 21-year-old Kik Pierie misses out due to a back problem.
Utrecht make the trip to Twente without the services of defenders Tommy St Jago and Reda Akmum, who are currently nursing knee problems.
Christopher Mamengi still awaits his first appearance of the new season after damaging his knee in a pre-season friendly versus Venezia.
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Smal, Oosterwolde, Propper, Troupee; Sadilek, Zerrouki, Vlap; Menig, Van Wolfswinkel, Limnios
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Paes; Warmerdam, Janssen, Van der Hoorn, Ter Avest; Maher, Timber, Gustafsson; Ramselaar, Sylla, Douvikas
We say: FC Twente 1-2 FC Utrecht
The visitors are the more in-form side heading into this weekend's contest, and they will fancy themselves to claim all three points. Twente, as always, are likely to put up a good fight, but we are backing Utrecht to carry the day.
Top tip
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 FC Utrecht win with a probability of 53.78%. A draw had a probability of 24% and a win for FC Twente had a probability of 22.25%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Utrecht win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.72%) and 0-2 (9.66%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.39%), while for a FC Twente win it was 1-0 (6.68%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood.
