Sunday's Eredivisie action will kick off with a crucial bottom-half battle at Euroborg where Groningen will be playing host to PEC Zwolle.
Both these sides are on 15 points after 14 games and have identical records this season, with the visitors only ahead by a better goal difference of one.
Match preview
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Groningen will be relatively pleased with the start they have made upon returning to the top flight, as they prepare to enter matchday 15 with 15 points to their name, nine points clear of the drop.
The Pride of the North bounced back well from their 5-0 hammering by PSV and notched up their fourth win of the season last weekend when they overcame fellow newly promoted outfit Willem II 2-0 at home.
Thijs Oosting opened the scoring, netting his first goal of the season against his former employers, and Stije Resink secured the win for the Green and White Army with the second goal on the hour mark.
With that, Dick Lukkien's side are now gunning for a third straight home win having beaten Sparta Rotterdam in their previous fixture, and if they manage a victory here it would be the first time the side have won three top-flight matches in a row since January 2020.
When these sides met in the league back in the 2021-22 season, both matches ended in 1-1 draws, while a pre-season friendly between them last term ended goalless.
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Meanwhile, PEC Zwolle will come into this fixture off the back of a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam last week, when Jamiro Monteiro's 57th-minute strike proved to be the difference between the teams.
That result followed a 2-0 loss to Ajax a week earlier, but Blauwvingers have now managed to take seven points from their last four games, thanks to a draw against Go Ahead Eagles and a victory over Fortuna Sittard ahead of the November international break.
While that may not seem like an impressive record at first glance, it is a significant improvement given that Johnny Jansen's side had only managed to earn eight points from their first 10 games this season.
However, the challenge now for the visitors is to find improvement on the road, as they are still searching for their first away victory this season and have not won a top-flight away game since the start of February.
Team News
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After opening his account for the season last weekend, Oosting will likely be given the nod again this week and he should partner Thom van Bergen in attack, though Brynjolfur Andersen Willumsson is also back in contention for a starting spot.
The hosts are expected to be without three players for this match, with Tika de Jonge still working his way back to full fitness, Finn Stam ruled out for a couple of weeks, and Fofin Turay flagged as a major doubt.
Simon Graves has now started the last two matches since returning from injury, and after keeping a clean sheet in the last match, he will likely continue alongside Anselmo Garcia MacNulty in central defence.
The only known injury absentees for the visitors are Samir Lagsir, who has not featured this season having undergone knee surgery, and Tristan Gooijer, who is only expected to return from his knee injury in the New Year.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Bacuna, Rente, Peersman, Blokzijl; Valente, Resink, Hove, Schreuders; Van Bergen, Oosting
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Schendelaar; Floranus, Graves, MacNulty, Van der Haar; Fichtinger, El Azzouzi; Namli, Monteiro, Mbayo; Vente
We say: Groningen 1-1 PEC Zwolle
These two sides come into this match with the same points tally and identical records this season. The last two competitive matches between them also ended level and we feel there will be nothing to split them on the scoreline in this one either.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
