Ajax go in search of a seventh consecutive win in all competitions as the Eredivisie leaders travel to the Abe Lenstra Stadion to square off against Heerenveen on Sunday.
The hosts have been solid on home turf of late, and are yet to taste defeat in any of the last six league games on their own patch.
Match preview
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Ajax went one step closer to glory with a 5-0 thumping of ADO Den Haag in their last fixture before the international break.
First-half goals from Devyne Rensch, Brian Brobbey, Edson Alvarez, and Dusan Tadic put Erik ten Hag's men in the driving seat going into half time, before Davy Klaassen added a fifth goal early into the second period.
De Godenzonen have been near perfect since the turn of the year, only dropping points to PSV Eindhoven in their last 11 Eredivisie matches.
That run of form has seen them open up an 11-point lead at the top of the standings with a game in hand, and a 35th domestic crown is looking more and more inevitable as the weeks go by.
The league leaders' clash versus Heerenveen this weekend is the third time that the two sides will be going head-to-head against each other this season, with Sunday's visitors coming out on top in the previous two meetings by an aggregate score of 8-1.
Heerenveen were involved in a share of the spoils for the 10th time this term as they played out a dour 0-0 draw versus Twente last time out.
Johnny Jansen's men had their visitors' wasteful finishing to thank for coming away with a point in a game where they were opened up on multiple occasions.
With 34 points to their name from 27 matches, De Superfriezen are on course for a repeat of last season's tenth-place finish.
Next up for them is a clash against a side who have been victorious in all but three of the last 18 meetings dating back to 2013.
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Team News
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Noussair Mazraoui sustained a head injury in mid-February versus Heracles, and he is yet to make his return to action.
Daley Blind is expected to sit the game out due to a knee problem which he sustained while on international duty with the Netherlands.
Sebastien Haller, Jurrien Timber, and Quinten Timber are all unavailable for the journey to Heerenveen due to illness.
Ulysses Llanez is the hosts' only absentee for the game as he works his way back to full fitness after missing the last three months of action through a muscle injury.
Henk Veerman has scored seven of his 13 league goals this season at home, and he poses the biggest threat to Ajax's quest for a fifth consecutive clean sheet.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Kaib, Bochniewicz, Dresevic, Floranus; Veerman, Halilovic, De Jong; Nygren, Van Bergen, Veerman
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Stekelenburg; Alvarez, Martinez, Tagliafico, Rensch; Gravenberch, Promes, Klaassen; Tadic, Haller, Brobbey
We say: Heerenveen 1-3 Ajax
Ajax have exhibited their superiority over Heerenveen on more than one occasion this season, and we are tipping the visitors to make it a hat-trick of victories over their hosts by the full-time whistle.
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 Ajax win with a probability of 71.28%. A draw had a probability of 17.1% and a win for Heerenveen had a probability of 11.67%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 0-2 with a probability of 11.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.53%) and 0-1 (9.37%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.01%), while for a Heerenveen win it was 2-1 (3.42%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 9.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Ajax would win this match.
