Matchday five of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season gets underway at the Het Kasteel on Friday when Sparta Rotterdam play host to newcomers NEC.
The home side are looking to make it back to back victories, while the visitors seek to extend their unbeaten run, which currently stands at three games.
Match preview
© Reuters
Sparta Rotterdam got their domestic campaign up and running at the fourth time of asking with a 3-1 triumph over Fortuna Sittard on Sunday.
Henk Fraser's men went into the break with a two-goal lead courtesy of strikes from Bryan Smeets and Lennart Thy, before Emanuel Emegha scored the clincher 24 minutes after Mats Seuntjens had halved the deficit.
De Kasteelheren have moved out of the bottom three following their most recent victory and are 14th in the Eredivisie table at the moment.
Next up for them is the visit of an opposing side who they have not lost to in any of the last five clashes in as many years, picking up four wins in that time.
However, this weekend's contest is the first between the teams since 2019, and Saturday's hosts will be keen to maintain their already established dominance over the visitors.
NEC were denied a third victory on the bounce as they played out a goalless stalemate versus Willem II at Stadion de Goffert on Sunday.
Despite playing all but 15 minutes of the match with a numerical advantage, Rogier Meijer's men failed to find the breakthrough in Nijmegen.
The Eniesee have risen to sixth in the standings and continue to impress in their first season back in the top flight after five years.
Saturday's visitors, who are on a run of three games without conceding since a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of Ajax on the opening weekend, will be confident of keeping their hosts at bay.
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Team News
Rens van Eijden still awaits his first outing of the season as he remains ruled out with a knee problem since the back end of last season.
Nineteen-year-old defender Mathias De Wolf will also not be featuring in his side's trip to Rotterdam this weekend due to a muscle injury.
Emanuel Emegha found the back of the net within 10 minutes of coming on against Fortuna, which could see him handed a starting spot in this one.
Rogier Meijer is expected to stick with his regular back four of Bart van Rooij, Ivan Marquez, Cas Odenthal and Souffian El Karouani, shielding Mattijs Branderhorst in goal.
Jordy Bruijn was substituted after an hour last time out following a subpar performance, and the Dutchman could be dropped to the bench for this one.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Pinto, Beugelsdijk, Vriends, Abels; Auassar, Osman, Mijnans; Van Crooy, Emegha, Thy
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; El Karouani, Odenthal, Marquez, Van Rooij; Schone, Proper, Duelund; Akman, Tavsan, Okita
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 2-1 NEC
Buoyed by last week's win, Sparta have another opportunity to claim all three points on home turf, but they will be going up against an in-form NEC side. However, we are tipping the hosts to emerge victorious in this one, albeit by a narrow margin.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
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 Sparta Rotterdam win with a probability of 51.09%. A win for NEC had a probability of 24.55% and a draw had a probability of 24.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sparta Rotterdam win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.77%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.62%) and 2-0 (8.95%). The likeliest NEC win was 0-1 (6.96%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.57%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.6% likelihood.
