Heerenveen will host Heracles on Friday as both teams aim to move further away from the bottom end of the Eredivisie table.
The sides are currently level on points in 12th and 11th spots respectively, with a five-point gap between themselves and the bottom three.
Match preview
After previously looking all but safe from the threat of relegation with 25 points from their opening 17 league games, Heerenveen's cause has not been helped by a dismal run of form since late December, as they firstly had to endure a run of seven straight defeats in the Dutch top flight.
In that time, spanning until the end of February, De Superfriezen conceded 14 goals while only scoring twice, failing to add a point to their tally as a result
That cost Johnny Jansen his job late in January, and interim manager Ole Tobiasen was unable to turn their fortunes around, before they finally broke the losing run with a goalless draw away at fellow strugglers Willem II.
De Superfriezen made it back-to-back goalless draws when they met 14th-placed RKC Waalwijk last time out, meaning their only two points from the last nine games have come against sides below them in the division, and, as a result of their slump, Tobiasen's side now sit just five points above the bottom three.
Now taking on another side in the bottom half, they will finally look to post a first league win since the turn of the year on Friday, although the visitors are also battling to move away from the relegation zone.
Heracles find themselves in a trajectory somewhat opposite to the hosts, as the Heraclieden have given their survival hopes a boost in recent weeks.
Frank Wormuth's side have now earned seven points from their last five Eredivisie outings, firstly returning to winning ways with a 1-0 win over Utrecht before bouncing back from a narrow loss to AZ Alkmaar with a 2-0 victory against PEC Zwolle thanks to goals from Luca de la Torre and Sinan Bakis.
Following a 3-1 defeat to title-chasing PSV Eindhoven, Wormuth's men added another point to their tally and leapfrogged Friday's opponents courtesy of a commendable goalless draw at home to Vitesse last time out.
As a result, they now boast a healthy lead over the automatic drop zone and could continue a rise away from the bottom three with what would be a first away triumph of the season.
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
- D
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- D
Team News
Heerenveen remain without Pawel Bochniewicz due to a long-term injury, while Tibor Halilovic has not yet returned to full fitness and may miss out again.
While they may make alterations to inspire a turn in fortunes, these are unlikely to come in defence, with the back three of Joost van Aken, Nick Bakker and Sven van Beek set to remain unchanged after a clean sheet last time out.
The departure of top scorer Henk Veerman in January has hit their attacking ranks, but the likes of Filip Stevanovic and Arjen van der Heide will be vying to come into a faltering front line.
Heracles also have several injuries to deal with, as Elias Oubella, Ismail Azzaoui and Kaj Sierhuis are all ruled out of Friday's trip.
Sierhuis has been their joint-top scorer in the Eredivisie this term, and Sinan Bakis could again be trusted to lead the line in his absence.
He will likely be joined by January signing Anas Ouahim, with Nikolai Laursen supporting from the right-hand side.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Van Beek, Bakker, Van Aken; Van Ewijk, Haye, Tahiri, Kaib; Stevanovic, Van Hooijdonk, Musaba
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Bucker; Fadiger, Rente, Knoester, Quagliata; Kiomourtzoglou, De La Torre; Laursen, Basacikoglu; Bakis, Ouahim
We say: Heerenveen 1-1 Heracles
While Heracles will come in with more momentum, thanks to their recent improvement, the home side have, at least, started to strengthen up at the back and will be keen to put the losing run behind them.
Those consecutive clean sheets, combined with the visitors' poor away record, could result in a share of the spoils in Heerenveen.
Top tip
Sam Varley
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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 54.39%. A draw had a probability of 24.4% and a win for Heracles had a probability of 21.26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.23%) and 2-1 (9.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.56%), while for a Heracles win it was 0-1 (6.95%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Heerenveen would win this match.
