Fortuna Sittard's bid to stay in the Eredivisie will continue when they welcome high-flying Cambuur to the Offermans Joosten Stadion on Saturday evening.
Cambuur are within touching distance of those chasing European football, despite only earning promotion to the top flight last season, whilst Fortuna's four-season stint in the Eredivisie looks like it could come to an end.
Match preview
It is not often a side can suffer a 9-0 defeat in their first six games and still consider themselves to have had a good start to the season, yet Cambuur have managed to do just that.
Put to the sword by record Dutch champions Ajax in mid-September, the 9-0 hammering has not derailed Henk de Jong's side, who rebounded after the defeat with back-to-back wins.
Winners over Heracles Almelo by the slender margin of 2-1 immediately after the Ajax game, Cambuur handed out a battering of their own, albeit only a 4-0 triumph over Sparta Rotterdam the week after.
AZ Alkmaar brought the Yellow-Blues back down to earth in the last game before the international break, yet they will stand a strong chance of returning to winning ways this weekend.
Unlike their opponents, Fortuna have had a torrid campaign so far and remain winless since their first game of the season against FC Twente.
In fact, they have only managed two draws since the opening day victory, leaving the Fortunezen second-bottom, four points ahead of PEC Zwolle.
Winless in their last six league matches, Fortuna were also handed a heavy defeat at the hands of Ajax, beaten 5-0 during their mid-September clash at the Offermans Joosten Stadion.
As a result of that match, plus Fortuna's three other defeats this season, the club from Southern Netherlands have accumulated the division's worst defensive record, conceding 16 goals from seven fixtures.
Things could conceivably get worse for Fortuna, who have played a game less than most other sides in the league, however, their positive head-to-head record over Cambuur does offer a slight glimmer of hope ahead of their clash on Saturday.
Fortuna have avoided defeat in five of their previous six meetings with Cambuur, whilst boasting a small but respectable winning streak of two games.
Despite this, none of these fixtures have taken place in the top division of Dutch football and given Cambuur's ability to beat the sides below them this year, expect another frustrating evening for an out-of-sorts Fortuna side.
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Team News
Whilst struggling with their form so far this season, it would not be possible for Fortuna supporters to blame their poor performances on bad luck with injuries, as Sjors Utlee's side have had near enough a full squad to choose from.
That being said, Mickael Tirpan is unlikely to feature this weekend, whilst Zian Flemming and Lisandro Semedo are both doubts for the visit of Cambuur.
With one of the youngest sides in the league, Fortuna have maybe lacked a touch of experience this year and have turned to 29-year-old Mats Seuntjens for the majority of their goals.
The forward has netted five of their seven Eredivisie goals this season, making the AZ Alkmaar man a crucial part of Utlee's plans.
Similarly, Cambuur have avoided any damaging injuries this season, with their only absentee through injury likely to be Jamie Jacobs.
Missing in Cambuur's two matches before the international break, Jacobs had featured in every match prior to picking up the knock and the hope is he will return soon.
Dismissed in the closing minutes of their defeat to AZ Alkmaar, Alex Bangura will sit out the first match of his suspension when Yellow-Blues travel South this weekend.
With only two clean sheets this season, the onus will be on Sonny Stevens to keep out the Fortuna attack, whilst Tom Boere will be keen to add to his three league goals when he leads the line.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Van Osch; Janssen, Angha, Pinto; Tekie, Rienstra, Cox, Duarte; Musaba, Sambou, Seuntjens
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Stevens; Schmidt, Mac-Intosch, Schouten, Sambissa; Hoedemakers, Paulissen, Maulun; Breij, Boere, Kallon
We say: Fortuna Sittard 0-2 Cambuur
In their first season back in the Eredivisie, Cambuur will be hoping their promising start can turn into a positive campaign and Fortuna represent the perfect post-international break return fixture.
They may have stuttered in past fixtures against the side from Sittard, yet now seems the perfect time for Cambuur to improve their fortunes against Fortuna.
Top tip
Amos Murphy
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 Cambuur win with a probability of 49.12%. A win for Fortuna Sittard had a probability of 26.71% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cambuur win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.71%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.54%) and 0-2 (8.14%). The likeliest Fortuna Sittard win was 1-0 (6.8%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.38%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood.
