Two teams in dire need of a pick-me-up square up to the challenge of each other on Saturday when Willem II welcome Heerenveen to the Konig Willem II Stadion.
The home side have lost 14 of their last 15 matches across all competitions heading into this weekend's clash against the visitors, who are seeking to avoid a ninth consecutive loss.
Match preview
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Willem II were beaten 1-0 for the third Eredivisie game on the bounce as Groningen narrowly came out on top in the sides' meeting on Saturday.
Bjorn Meijer broke the deadlock in the opening quarter of an hour and that was enough to put Fred Grim's men to the sword at the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion.
Having picked up 21 points from 24 matches so far, The Tricolores remain one place and two points above the drop zone albeit having played one game more.
Lying in store next for them is a crunch clash versus an opposing side who have lost six of the eight encounters between the outfits since 2018.
Saturday's hosts have scored the second-fewest goals on home turf, which is an area that needs significant improvement as the season approaches its final knockings.
In keeping with their recent fortunes, Heerenveen had little to show for a spirited display versus Utrecht on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat at the Abe Lenstra Stadion.
Johnny Jansen's men found themselves with a mountain to climb after going two goals down courtesy of Bart Ramselaar and Mike van der Hoorn before they pulled one back through Sydney van Hooijdonk to set up a frenetic final 10 minutes.
Consequently, De Superfriezen have now dropped to 13th place in the Eredivisie table but still possess a healthy six-point lead over the bottom three.
Like their hosts, Saturday's visitors are also guilty of being toothless in attack, with only the bottom two of Sparta Rotterdam and PEC Zwolle finding the back of the net on fewer occasions than this weekend's opponents.
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Team News
Wesley Spieringhs has not featured since early September due to a knee injury which he sustained in a friendly versus Belgian outfit KV Mechelen.
The home side will also be without the services of 29-year-old Pol Llonch, who is set to sit out a third consecutive game due to a torn muscle.
Head coach Fred Grim has watched his team fail to score in six of their last seven matches and could elect to make some changes to his front line.
Polish defender Pawel Bochniewicz is Zwolle's only guaranteed absentee for this weekend's contest as he remains sidelined with a knee problem.
Filip Stevanovic has been an unused substitute for the last two matches but could earn a recall to the side for this one, having netted the winner in the reverse fixture.
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Wellenreuther; Kohn, Heerkens, Dammers, Owusu; Crowley, Saddiki, Meerveld; Svensson, Nunnely, Hornkamp
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Van Ewijk, Van Beek, Dresevic, Woudenberg; Haye, Madsen, De Jong; Halilovic, Sarr, Van Hooijdonk
We say: Willem II 1-1 Heerenveen
With both teams struggling for points ahead of this one, neither will be too dissatisfied with a share of the spoils, and we are backing the game to pan out that way.
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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 40.23%. A win for Willem II had a probability of 33.63% and a draw had a probability of 26.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.99%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.61%) and 0-2 (6.92%). The likeliest Willem II win was 1-0 (8.97%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.42%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
