Looking for their first win in seven league games, RKC Waalwijk have the daunting task of going head-to-head against PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.
Both sides have already met once this season where PSV were simply too strong for their hosts last December, cruising to a 4-1 victory.
Match preview
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The appointment of Roger Schmidt has worked a real treat as PSV seem to have recovered from their relatively underwhelming performances of last season.
Before the Eredivisie was prematurely ended due to coronavirus, the Rood-witten were as many as seven points behind Ajax and AZ in the title race, despite having played an extra game.
This time out, Roger Schmidt and his men currently sit four points off the top, after edging out Sparta Rotterdam away from home in a scoring spree which ended 5-3 last Tuesday.
Scoring goals for fun has been a major feature of the home side, and their latest exhibition of that brought their tally up to 41, which is bettered by only Ajax.
They have progressed into the next round of the KNVB-Beker as a result of a 2-0 win against Eerste Divisie side FC Volendam on Tuesday, thanks to second-half goals from Noni Madueke and Denzel Dumfries.
Up until last Wednesday, PSV had a perfect home record in the league, but that run has now been ended by AZ, who claimed a 3-1 victory.
Just like last season where they were only saved from relegation by coronavirus, Waalwijk have performed badly for most of the current season.
They were held to a 1-1 draw for the second game in a row last Sunday by Willem II, who remain four points and one place behind them in the Eredivisie table.
Fred Grim's men had a chance to put some daylight between themselves and their nearest challengers in the race to beat the drop, but they ultimately failed to do so.
Faced with consecutive away games against PSV and Vitesse, Waalwijk could be left regretting that missed opportunity sooner rather than later.
PSV Eindhoven Eredivisie form: WWWDLW
PSV Eindhoven form (all competitions): WWDLWW
RKC Waalwijk Eredivisie form: LLLLDD
Team News
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Waalwijk's Ola John was forced off with an injury in the first half of last Sunday's draw against Willem II, and he is doubtful for his side's trip to the Philips Stadion.
Mario Gotze is also expected to be absent for the home side, as he continues to recover from a muscle injury that has kept him out of action since last December.
The German's career has been injury-plagued for most of it, and that trend has continued since he moved to the Netherlands.
PSV will also be without Richard Ledezma and Maximiliano Romero, who are both out for the season with ACL and knee injuries respectively.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Max, Boscagli, Teze, Dumfries; Rosario, Sangare, Thomas; Ihattaren, Malen, Zahavi
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; Quasten, Touba, Meulensteen, Bakari; Tahiri, Azhil, Van Der Venne; Stokkers, Daneels Efmorfidis
We say: PSV Eindhoven 3-1 RKC Waalwijk
PSV will be expected to produce another dominant display at home as they have done all season long, and they should come away with a comfortable victory against a struggling Waalwijk side.
Top betting 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 75.34%. A draw had a probability of 14.8% and a win for RKC Waalwijk had a probability of 9.86%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.31%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-0 (9.17%) and 2-1 (9.02%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.77%), while for a RKC Waalwijk win it was 1-2 (2.96%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for PSV Eindhoven in this match.
