Avoiding a sixth consecutive defeat will the major objective for SBV Excelsior when they welcome Cambuur to Van Donge & De Roo Stadion on Sunday.
Similarly, the visiting team also head into this weekend's contest on a bad run results having come out on top in just one of their last seven matches.
Match preview
Excelsior were left empty-handed once again following a 2-0 defeat in a crucial battle at the bottom against FC Emmen at De Oude Meerdijk on Saturday.
Marinus Dijkhuizen's men spurned a number of gilt-edged chances to open the scoring and paid the ultimate price as Ole Romeny struck twice in an eight-minute spell to settle matters.
Consequently, the Kralingers have dropped down into the relegation zone to 16th in the Eredivisie table, albeit only one point adrift of safety.
Awaiting them next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have secured just one win in the last five meetings between the teams, losing the other four by a combined score of 15-3.
However, that solitary victory did come in the most recent encounter as Sunday's hosts fell to a 2-0 loss in August's reverse fixture earlier this season.
Cambuur were on the receiving end of a 5-2 thrashing against PSV Eindhoven in the sides' encounter at the Philips Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
Sjors Ultee's men took a shock lead through Remco Balk but soon lost their advantage thanks to Xavi Simons's leveller, after which an Anwar El-Ghazi brace coupled with second-half goals from Patrick van Aanholt and Fabio Silva turned the game on its head, rendering Bjorn Johnsen's strike inconsequential.
Having recorded a meagre tally of 16 points from their 25 matches so far, the Yellow-Blues remain rooted to the bottom of the standings, five points below the drop zone.
In the first of two consecutive relegation six-pointers, Sunday's visitors now seek to get themselves back on track to avoid being left too far behind in the race for survival.
Team News
Kik Pierie and Vicente Besuijen remain sidelined for Excelsior through muscle injuries, while Jacky Donkor is still unavailable with a knee problem.
Maxime Awoudja is currently battling with a lingering hamstring problem, and the defender is now set to sit out a third game on the bounce.
Twenty-one-year-old Maxim Gullit is not expected to play any part this weekend as he is yet to feature for Cambuur this term due to a long-term injury.
The away side will also be without the services of Dutch trio Marco Tol, Ben Rienstra and Michael Breij through short-term injury problems.
Finding the back of the net in each of his last four appearances, Bjorn Johnsen has hit the ground running with his new employers and will be aiming to deliver the goods once again.
SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:
Van Gassel; Tjoe, El Yaakoubi, Nieuwpoort, Horemans; Goudmijn, Koopmeiners; Driouech, Naujoks, Lamprou; Agrafiotis
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Ruiter; Bangura, Smand, Bergsma, Schmidt; Foor, Paulissen, Van Kaam; Mahi, Johnsen, Balk
We say: SBV Excelsior 1-1 Cambuur
There is little separating the teams ahead of Sunday's encounter which could easily swing either way and we are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
