Looking for a first win in seven league games, Sparta Rotterdam welcome relegation-threatened Willem II to the Het Kasteel on Sunday.
This is the second meeting between the sides this term, with Sparta having claimed a comprehensive 3-1 victory in December's reverse fixture.
Match preview
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Sparta Rotterdam were beaten 4-2 away at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday as Ajax had too much for their visitors on the day.
The league leaders raced to a four-goal advantage inside the opening 50 minutes, before Danzell Gravenberch came off the bench to score twice and halve the deficit.
Henk Fraser's men began 2021 in ninth place, but they have dropped to 12th on the log after picking up only five points from a possible 24 since the turn of the year.
De Kasteelheren have struggled to score goals in that time, averaging less than one per game which simply has to improve from now on.
Like Sparta, Willem II have also won only one league game this year, and have amassed just five points from eight Eredivisie outings.
Zeljko Petrovic's men played out a 1-1 draw on Wednesday against ADO Den Haag, who are also involved in the battle for survival.
They seemed nailed on to lose a third league encounter in a row after going a goal and a man down, but Shaquille Pinas converted a penalty two minutes after the hour mark to ensure a share of the spoils.
However, the Tricolores are eight points from safety and with just 11 games left, they need to start winning games to stand a chance of staying up.
Sparta Rotterdam Eredivisie form: LLDDLL
Willem II Eredivisie form: LLWLLD
Team News
Aaron Meijers is yet to feature for his side in February as he remains sidelined with a knee injury which he picked up on the last day of January.
The hosts will also be without 29-year-old Tim Coremans, who has been nursing a shoulder injury for the past eight months.
Dries Saddiki will not play a part in this one as he steps up his recovery from a muscle tear which he sustained over a month ago.
Joining him on the list of absentees for the visitors is Miquel Nelom, whose season has been prematurely ended with a knee injury.
Freek Heerkens will also miss the game as he remains out with a thigh injury through which he has missed his side's last six games.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Vriends, Heylen, Beugelsdijk, Fortes; Auassar, Burger, Smeets; Duarte, Mijnans, Thy
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Brondeel; Kohn, Peters, Holmen, Owusu; Kohlert, Selahi, Spieringhs, Nunnely; Pavlidis, Okyere Wriedt
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 2-0 Willem II
Both sides have struggled over the last two months, but Sparta are above their visitors for a reason, and we expect them to come out victorious in this one.
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 55.71%. A draw had a probability of 22.9% and a win for Willem II had a probability of 21.39%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sparta Rotterdam win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.87%) and 2-0 (9.5%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.83%), while for a Willem II win it was 0-1 (5.95%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 3.1% likelihood.
