PEC Zwolle entertain the challenge of AZ Alkmaar at the Mac3Park Stadion on Sunday aiming to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.
Meanwhile, AZ set out to make it back to back wins after ending a four-game winless run across all competitions last time out.
Match preview
© Reuters
AZ Alkmaar emerged triumphant from a heavyweight meeting against Vitesse on Saturday as they ran out 3-1 winners at the AFAS Stadion.
Vangelis Pavlidis's first-half strike and a Jacob Rasmussen own goal 10 minutes into the second period put Pascal Jansen's men in control, but Sondre Tronstad pulled one back for his side shortly afterward, only for Jesper Karlsson to seal the deal from 12 yards late on.
The Cheeseheads have moved up to fourth place in the Eredivisie table and remain hot on the trail of Feyenoord in the battle to finish third.
Next up is a clash against an opposing side with just one win in the last 15 meetings between the teams all the way back to 2016.
Off the back of a thrilling 3-2 victory in the reverse fixture, Sunday's visitors will back themselves to get the job done and complete a league double over their hosts.
In keeping with their struggles of late, Zwolle fell to a third consecutive 1-0 defeat on Sunday against Go Ahead Eagles.
Dick Schreuder's men were on course to secure a crucial point as the game remained goalless heading into second-half stoppage time, where Philippe Rommens struck a late winner.
The Blauwvingers remain rooted to the foot of the league table, three points away from safety having played the most games in the bottom three.
Sunday's hosts have also scored the fewest number of goals (nine) on home turf this term and will need to get going at the top end of the pitch to stand any chance of picking up a positive result this weekend.
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
- D
- W
Team News
Jelle Duin and Yusuf Barasi are AZ's only guaranteed absentees for Sunday's game, with the former recently going under the knife.
However, Aslak Fonn Witry was subbed off in the final knockings of the victory over Vitesse, and the defender could also sit this one out.
Vangelis Pavlidis has found the back of the net three times in his last three outings, and the forward is now up to 11 league goals which is his joint most in a single campaign.
Zwolle's Sam Kersten and Samir Lagsir continue to nurse knee injuries, while Mustafa Saymak is sidelined with a groin problem.
Dean Huiberts is yet to feature since February due to an ankle injury which he picked in a 4-3 win against Cambuur.
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Van Polen, Nakayama, Van der Werff; Anderson, Van Wermeskerken, Paal, De Wit; Clement, Redan, Darfalou
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Witry, Beukema, Martins Indi, Wijndal; Midtsjo, Clasie; Sugawara, De Wit, Karlsson; Pavlidis
We say: PEC Zwolle 0-2 AZ Alkmaar
Zwolle are in a downward spiral coming into this one, and AZ will be looking to heap more misery on their hosts. We are backing the away side to come out on top at the end of the 90 minutes.
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 AZ Alkmaar win with a probability of 56.06%. A draw had a probability of 22.7% and a win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 21.22%.
The most likely scoreline for an AZ Alkmaar win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.88%) and 0-2 (9.47%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.72%), while for a PEC Zwolle win it was 1-0 (5.82%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 5.6% likelihood.
