Having recently suffered a first league loss of the campaign, Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven head to the Rat Verlegh on Saturday to face off against NAC Breda.
For the hosts, securing a positive result from this weekend's clash will be the major objective following a second straight defeat in their most recent outing.
Match preview
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Off the back of 10 straight Eredivisie wins to fly out of the blocks, PSV finally had their maiden taste of domestic defeat this term as they were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Ajax in Saturday's heavyweight meeting at the Johann Cruyff Arena.
Peter Bosz's men led 1-0 and 2-1 through strikes from Luuk de Jong and Ivan Perisic but were pegged back on either occasion by Davy Klaassen and Kian Fitz-Jim before Mika Godts completed the turnaround 16 minutes from time.
However, De Rood-witten wasted no time getting themselves back to winning ways courtesy of a comprehensive 4-0 thrashing of La Liga outfit Girona in their fourth Champions League group-stage clash on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo and Malik Tillman were on target before half time to set PSV on their way to victory at the Philips Stadion after which a Johan Bakayoko strike and Ladislav Krejci's own goal added more gloss to the scoreline.
The Dutch giants will now seek to temporarily extend their five-point advantage at the top of the Eredivisie table over second-place Ajax, who are not in action until Sunday when they lock horns against FC Twente at De Grolsch Veste.
Saturday's visitors will be confident of securing all three points this weekend given their near-perfect record in this fixture of late, with eight wins from the last nine meetings across all competitions dating back to 2014.
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Still licking their wounds from a disappointing cup exit to lower league outfit Barendrecht, NAC Breda were powerless to avoid a 2-0 defeat against Heracles when the teams locked horns at the Asito Stadium on Saturday.
Carl Hoefkens's men battled hard in the first half but went behind to a Brian De Keersmaecker penalty six minutes from the interval before De Keersmaecker added a second just past the hour mark to seal the deal.
Consequently, Parel van het Zuiden have now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since September, but they did follow that up with four straight victories and will be hoping for a similar response.
Falling to ninth in the league standings with 15 points amassed from 11 matches so far, Breda have dropped out of the European places, albeit behind eighth-place Go Ahead Eagles only on goal difference.
A daunting assignment now awaits Saturday's hosts just before the international break, although their recent home form should offer a bit of optimism after three straight wins in front of their fans by a combined score of 6-1.
Team News
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Breda's Cherrion Valerius is still nursing a knee injury he picked up in October's friendly matchup against ADO Den Haag and will miss a fifth consecutive game.
Leo Greiml is also a guaranteed absentee for the home side as he serves a one-game suspension courtesy of his fifth yellow card of the season last time out.
Sergino Dest and Fode Fofana are ruled out with knee injuries, while Hirving Lozano and Adamo Nagalo continue to nurse muscle and arm injuries respectively.
Dutchmen Jerdy Schouten and Joey Veerman remain out of contention, and the midfielders are still a considerable way off returning to action for the away side.
Twenty-five-year-old Noa Lang came off with an injury scare in PSV's European outing against Girona, making his availability for this weekend's contest highly uncertain.
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Bielica; Kemper, Kongolo, Lucassen; Sauer, Oldrup Jensen, Leemans, Balard, Kaied; Omarsson, Paula
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Dams, Boscagli, Flamingo, Karsdorp; Saibari, Til, Tillman; Perisic, De Jong, Bakayoko
We say: NAC Breda 1-4 PSV Eindhoven
PSV turned on the style in midweek to comfortably see off Girona 4-0, and we are expecting another commanding performance this weekend en route to a routine victory when all is said and done here.
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