Eredivisie leaders PSV Eindhoven welcome Go Ahead Eagles to the Philips Stadion on Thursday in their final outing of 2021.
The hosts set out to make it six consecutive home wins, while the away side are looking to avoid defeat on the road for the eighth game running.
Match preview
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PSV ran out 4-1 winners in their clash versus RKC Waalwijk at the Mandemakers Stadion on Sunday.
A Yorbe Vertessen brace either side of goals from Cody Gakpo and Philipp Mwene put Roger Schmidt's men on course for all three points before Jens Odgaard pulled one back for his side.
The Rood-witten remain a point clear of defending champions Ajax at the top of the standings midway through the 2021-22 campaign.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing side who have lost each of the last 10 games between the teams, the most recent of which was a 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture.
Having picked up 21 of a possible 24 points on home turf this term, Thursday's hosts will fancy themselves to come out on top in front of their fans once again.
Go Ahead Eagles suffered a third consecutive home league defeat on Sunday when they were beaten 2-0 by fellow newcomers NEC.
First-half goals from Elayis Tavsan and Jordy Bruijn put Kees van Wonderen's men to the sword at De Adelaarshorst.
The Pride of the IJsel Kowet have now dropped to 11th place in the Eredivisie table but are still a whopping eight points clear of danger after the first 17 rounds of matches.
Only bottom club Zwolle have scored fewer goals away from home than Thursday's visitors who will need to turn things around in that department going forward.
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Team News
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Ryan Thomas, Mees Kreekels, Davy Propper, Shurandy Sambo and Eran Zahavi all remain out of contention as they continue to nurse knee injuries.
PSV will also be without the services of English winger Noni Madueke who is sidelined with a muscle injury.
Marco van Ginkel grabbed a late winner in the reverse fixture and will be looking to deliver the goods for his side once again.
Go Ahead Eagles' Turan Tuzlacik is ruled out through a leg injury, and the 20-year-old will not feature on Thursday.
Marc Cardona is also on the visitors' treatment table due to a knee injury, while Sam Crowther remains down with a heart problem.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Drommel; Mauro, Boscagli, Ramalho, Teze; Sangare, Van Ginkel, Gotze; Vinicius, Gakpo, Bruma
Go Ahead Eagles possible starting lineup:
Hahn; Deijl, Bakker, Nauber; Lucassen; Brouwers, Idzes, Rommens; Lidberg, Oratmangoen, Berden
We say: PSV Eindhoven 3-1 Go Ahead Eagles
PSV possess a significantly better squad and are huge favorites to emerge victorious in this one, and while we expect the visitors to give a good account of themselves we fancy the hosts to get the job done.
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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 76.16%. A draw had a probability of 14.6% and a win for Go Ahead Eagles had a probability of 9.27%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.75%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (9.54%) and 2-1 (8.96%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.73%), while for a Go Ahead Eagles win it was 1-2 (2.81%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for PSV Eindhoven in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for PSV Eindhoven.
