Looking to pick up their first Eredivisie win of the season, PEC Zwolle take a trip to the Stadion Galgenwaard to face FC Utrecht on Saturday.
The hosts head into the game fresh off the back of an impressive victory over NEC and will be seeking to carry on the momentum from that performance and strengthen their position in the top half of the table.
Match preview
Utrecht returned to winning ways in the Eredivisie when they saw off a solid NEC side 3-0 at the Stadion de Goffert last Wednesday.
Dutch forward Bart Ramselaar scored either side of Anastasios Douvikas's 67th-minute strike to condemn the Eniesee to their first defeat in five games.
Prior to that, the Domstedelingen fell to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Twente before playing out a 2-2 draw at home against Waalwijk last Saturday.
Rene Hake's men have enjoyed a solid start to the season, and with 11 points from the 18 available so far, they are currently fifth in the Eredivisie table and could rise into the top three with a win this weekend.
That has been down to the solid job at the defensive end of the pitch, where they have kept three clean sheets and conceded just four goals to date.
Meanwhile, PEC Zwolle picked up their first point of the new campaign last time out, when they held Sparta Rotterdam to a 1-1 draw at the MAC³PARK Stadion.
The game was off to a flyer when Vito van Crooy put the visitors ahead inside the opening minute, but the Blauwvingers responded eight minutes later when Daishawn Redan struck to restore parity.
Prior to that, Art Langeler's men lost their first five league games and failed to pick up a win in their last nine across all competitions dating back to a 2-1 friendly victory over Cambuur back in July.
PEC Zwolle are currently rooted to the bottom of the league standings and their horrid start has been owing to their frailties at both ends of the pitch, as they have scored just once all season and are yet to keep a clean sheet.
They will now seek to build on their solid performance last time out and get their season up and running, however they take on an opposing side who they have failed to beat in the last five meetings between the sides since 2019.
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Team News
Twenty-year-old defender Christopher Mamengi is ruled out of this weekend's encounter after sustaining a knee injury in a pre-season game against Italian side Venezia.
The Dutchman is joined on the Utrecht injury table by the defensive duo of Reda Akmum and Tommy St Jago, who are also both recuperating from knee injuries.
Swedish forward Simon Gustafson is also out of contention for the game after trudging off the pitch in the 19th minute against Waalwijk last Saturday.
With four goal involvements in the opening six games this term, Anastasios Douvikas has been pivotal in the hosts' solid start to the season, and the 22-year-old will be one to look out for on Saturday.
Meanwhile, PEC Zwolle will have to make do with the absence of Dutch midfielder Pelle Clement, who came off with an injury inside the first half hour against Willem II back in August.
Sai van Wermeskerken is another name on the visitors' injury list as the Japanese defender continues his long journey back to full fitness after picking up a knee problem back in February.
Mees de Wit, who fractured his hand against Ajax two Saturdays ago, and Mustafa Saymak, who is presently nursing a groin problem, will both continue their spells on the sidelines.
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Paes; Warmerdam, Janssen, Van der Hoorn, Ter Avest; Maher, Van Overeem, Van de Streek; Ramselaar, Sylla, Douvikas
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Van Polen, Kersten, Voet, De Wit; Reijnders, Strieder, Van den Belt; Paal, Tedic, Redan
We say: FC Utrecht 2-0 PEC Zwolle
Both sides have had contrasting starts to the new campaign with PEC Zwolle struggling to find their feet. Their early struggles has been down to their frailties in attack, an area needing strengthening if they aim to move out of the wrong end of the table. Utrecht, meanwhile, appear to have hit their stride and we predict they will take advantage of their home crowd support and claim all three points.
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 56.62%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 20.96%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Utrecht win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.91%) and 2-0 (9.41%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.55%), while for a PEC Zwolle win it was 0-1 (5.63%). The actual scoreline of 5-1 was predicted with a 1.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that FC Utrecht would win this match.
