Two teams in dire need of a victory go head to head at the MAC3PARK Stadion on Sunday afternoon as PEC Zwolle face off against FC Volendam.
The hosts have been beaten in three consecutive matches leading up to this weekend, while the visitors are without a win in eight straight league outings.
Match preview
PEC Zwolle saw their downward spiral hit a new low at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday when they fell to a 2-0 defeat against Heerenveen.
Johnny Jansen's men went behind to Anas Tahiri's opener on the stroke of half time after which Pelle van Amersfoort sealed the deal midway through the second half.
As a result, De Blauwvingers have dropped down to 13th in the Eredivisie table and are now four points adrift of a place in the top half.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to pick between the sides over the last five meetings, which have yielded two wins apiece and one draw.
Off the back of a 7-1 drubbing in their most recent home outing, Sunday's hosts will be keen to give their fans reason to cheer this time around.
Volendam were beaten for the fifth time in six matches in a 5-2 thrashing against NEC Nijmegen in Friday's meeting at the Kras Stadion.
Goals from Sontje Hansen, Kodai Sano and Sylla Sow left Regillio Simons's men with a mountain to climb at half time before Rober Gonzalez and Lars Olden Larsen rounded off the scoring after half time.
With 13 points picked up from 24 matches so far, De Wijdbroeken sit bottom of the standings, a whopping eight points adrift of SBV Excelsior in the battle for survival.
Unbeaten in four of their last five away matches either side of the new year, Sunday's visitors have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack on the road of late.
Team News
Volendam's Joey Antonioli remains unavailable for selection due to a knee problem, while Calvin Twigt continues to battle with a damaged foot.
Diego Gustavo and Luke Le Roux are also unavailable for the away side and are joined on the sidelines by 22-year-old Xavier Mbuyamba.
Kaj de Rooy, Samir Lagsir, Ferdy Druijf and Ryan Thomas are all ruled out for Zwolle this weekend as they continue to nurse knee injuries.
Zico Buurmeester and Nick Fichtinger also miss out for the home side due to ankle and leg injuries respectively, but the latter is not far off making his comeback.
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Hauptmeijer; Garcia, Lam, Kersten, Van Polen; Krastev, El Azzouzi; Reijnders, Velanas, Van der Water; Thy
FC Volendam possible starting lineup:
Backhaus; Plat, Mirani, Flint, Cox; Benamar, De Haan, Maulun; Booth, Ould-Chikh, Semedo
We say: PEC Zwolle 1-0 FC Volendam
Volendam have shipped the most goals in the division this term, and we cannot see them keeping a clean sheet here. That said, we expect the visitors to put a good fight en route to a narrow defeat come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
