The final match on Saturday night in the Eredivisie will see high-flying FC Utrecht look to continue their impressive league record when they take on a struggling RKC Waalwijk at Stadion Galgenwaard.
The hosts have shot out the starting gate this season and are currently in second place in the league standings, while the visitors are rooted to the bottom of the table, still searching for their first point.
Match preview
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Utrecht mean business this season, as they prepare to enter gameweek eight with 16 points to their name, five fewer than league leaders PSV, though they have played a game less than the defending champions.
Six games into the new campaign and Utreg have already notched up five wins, with their only dropped points to date coming in a 1-1 draw away to Heerenveen back in gameweek two when Jacob Trenskow found a late goal to cancel out Ole Romeny's opener.
Since then, though, Ron Jans's men have rattled off four wins in a row, beating NAC, Twente, Willem II and AZ, scoring two or more goals in each of those victories, though they also failed to keep a clean sheet during that period.
At Stadion Galgenwaard, Domstedelingen have won all three of their matches this season and have only suffered defeat at this venue in two of their last 19 league games, winning 12 and drawing five of the remaining 17.
The last time these sides met, they played to a 2-2 draw, which extended Utrecht's unbeaten run against this opponent to eight games in a row, including three wins and five draws dating back to March 2020.
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Meanwhile, just two months into the league season and RKC Waalwijk are already the out-and-out favourites to be relegated this term, according to the vast majority of bookmakers globally.
Indeed, RKC have made the worst possible start to the season imaginable, losing each of their first seven games in a row, with the most recent defeat coming at home to Ajax last weekend (2-0).
That result extended their winless streak in the top flight to nine, dating back to the start of May, while it was also the eighth league match on the bounce that the side had conceded two or more goals.
Perhaps the greater concern for an under-pressure Henk Fraser, though, will be that his side have only managed to find the back of the net three times themselves and only once in three away games this season.
Team News
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Former Manchester United midfielder Zidane Iqbal sustained an injury while on international duty with Iraq last month and is only expected to return to action after the next international break.
He will be joined on the sidelines this weekend by Alonzo Engwanda (muscle), Silas Andersen (knock), Niklas Vesterlund (knee) and Kevin Gadellaa (knee), all of whom are also ruled out through injury.
RKC Waalwijk are expected to be without just two players for this weekend's trip to Utrecht, with Nouri El Harmazi and Richard van der Venne both ruled out due to a shoulder and knee injury respectively.
Van der Venne's injury in particular has been a major blow to the visitors this season, as he scored two goals in the side's first two matches. Chris Lokesa is the most likely to operate in the number 10 role in his absence.
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Horemans, Van der Hoorn, Viergever, El Karouani; Fraulo, Bozdogan; Cathline, Toornstra, Romeny; Min
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Lelieveld, Van Gelderen, Van den Buijs, Familia-Castillo; Weidmann, Oukili, Cleonise, Lokesa; Van de Loo, Zawada
We say: FC Utrecht 2-0 RKC Waalwijk
Both these sides have completely contrasting records this season, and with seven losses in a row, it is difficult to make much of a case for RKC Waalwijk in this one. Utrecht have picked up four wins on the bounce ahead of this match and we feel they will extend that record with another victory on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
