Still in search of their first league win of the year, Heerenveen travel to the Erve Asito on Saturday to take on Heracles.
The teams are sitting pretty in eighth and 12th in the Eredivisie table, with only four points separating them as things stand.
Match preview
Heracles have lost their last two games in all competitions, losing 3-2 to Feyenoord on Wednesday in their KNVB-Beker clash, on the back of a 2-0 loss to Utrecht four days earlier.
Frank Wormuth would have been encouraged by his side's displays in both games, as they gave a good account of themselves albeit in defeat.
Three wins in their last five league games is a significant improvement, especially when you consider the fact that they were winless in the five prior to that.
Key to that recent upturn in results has been Rai Vloet, who has directly contributed to 12 of his team's 19 league goals with eight goals and four assists.
Heerenveen finally won a game for the first time since November 1 on Wednesday, when they overcame Emmen away from home in a KNVB-Beker meeting.
However, Johnny Jansen's men had to do it the hard way as they came from behind in the final 20 minutes to advance into the last eight of the tournament.
They will look to carry that momentum into Saturday's game, where they will be looking for a victory to put an end to the 10-game winless run that they are currently on.
Should they manage that, games against Feyenoord, Vitesse and AZ in the coming weeks can be approached with lesser pressure.
Heracles Eredivisie form: LWWLWL
Heracles form (all competitions): WWLWLL
Heerenveen Eredivisie form: DLLLDD
Heerenveen form (all competitions): LLLDDW
Team News
Mats Knoester will be unavailable for Heracles, owing to a muscle injury that he suffered last week in the 4-0 demolition of Emmen.
Navajo Bakboord's knee problem has ruled him out for the past two months, and that is set to continue when his side host Heerenveen
Heerenveen have everybody fit as they go in search of a victory that has certainly been long overdue.
Benjamin Nygren has scored off the bench in his last two games, so he could be rewarded with a start here, which should see Arjen Van Der Heide drop to the bench.
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Quagliata, Propper, Rente, Breukers; Kiomourtzoglou, Vloet, Schoofs; Burgzorg, Bakis, Van De Water
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Woudenberg, Bochniewicz, Dresevic, Floranus; Veerman, De Jong, Halilovic; Van Der Heide, Veerman, Van Bergen
We say: Heracles 1-1 Heerenveen
Heerenveen have played better in recent weeks despite not managing a league victory since last November. Their improved form should be enough to secure a draw against Heracles, who have just recently overcome a mini bump of their own.
Top betting 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 Heracles win with a probability of 51.98%. A win for Heerenveen had a probability of 25.81% and a draw had a probability of 22.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heracles win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.69%) and 2-0 (7.38%). The likeliest Heerenveen win was 1-2 (6.47%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.98%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Heracles would win this match.
