Off the back of respective stalemates in their last Eredivisie outings, PSV Eindhoven and RKC Waalwijk lock horns at the Philips Stadion on Sunday.
The home side also set out to complete a league double over their visitors following a routine 4-1 victory in the reverse fixture back in December.
Match preview
© Reuters
PSV's title hopes took a hit on Saturday as they were held to an absorbing 3-3 draw by FC Twente at De Grolsch Veste.
Twente started the game on the front foot and took a seemingly unassailable lead after just 25 minutes thanks to a Ricky van Wolfswinkel double and Michel Vlap's strike.
Joey Veerman pulled one back 10 minutes shy of half time, after which the comeback was completed in the second period through Cody Gakpo and Olivier Boscagli.
As a result, Roger Schmidt's men have now fallen four points behind league leaders Ajax at the top of the standings heading into the final six games of the season.
The Rood-witten also played out a goalless draw in the first leg of their Conference League quarter-final tie against Leicester and have it all to do in the return leg.
For now, though, Sunday's hosts are focused on securing all three points ahead of what is set to be a crucial week which ends with the KNVB-Beker final.
Waalwijk secured a hard-fought point against FC Utrecht on Saturday when the teams faced off at the Mandemakers Stadion.
Joseph Oosting's men fell behind to Quinten Timber's opener and were heading for a defeat before Michiel Kramer struck in second-half stoppage time.
With 28 points from as many games so far, RKC sit six points clear of the bottom three as it stands, albeit having played two games than Sparta Rotterdam in 16th place.
Sunday's visitors follow this weekend's game with a crunch clash against bottom club PEC Zwolle, and they will be keen to avoid being drawn into a relegation scrap.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- D
- D
- L
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
- L
- D
- W
- D
- D
Team News
© Reuters
PSV's Shurandy Sambo and Ryan Thomas continue to nurse long-term knee injuries and will both sit out Sunday's game.
Armando Obispo is unavailable for the hosts with a torn muscle, while Philipp Mwene misses out through an ankle problem.
With one eye on his side's continental commitment in midweek, Roger Schmidt could opt to rotate his starting XI for this one.
Sebbe Augustijns is yet to feature since December through a leg injury, but the 22-year-old is closing in on a return to action.
Richard van der Venne has scored twice in his last three away outings, and the midfielder will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Drommel; Max, Boscagli, Teze, Mauro; Sangare, Gutierrez; Veerman, Gotze, Doan; Zahavi
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Adewoye, Meulensteen, Touba; Gaari, Anita, Azhil, Buttner; Odgaard, Stokkers, Kramer
We say: PSV Eindhoven 2-0 RKC Waalwijk
PSV are unbeaten in their last 14 outings across all competitions, and it is hard to see that changing here. We fancy them to get the job done come 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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 83.95%. A draw had a probability of 10.2% and a win for RKC Waalwijk had a probability of 5.83%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 3-0 with a probability of 9.82%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.01%) and 4-0 (8.03%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (4.49%), while for a RKC Waalwijk win it was 1-2 (1.83%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-0 win for PSV Eindhoven in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for PSV Eindhoven.