Separated by just one point and one place in the Eredivisie table, FC Utrecht and Vitesse go head-to-head at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday.
The home side will also be looking to exact revenge on their visitors this weekend off the back of a 2-1 defeat in November's reverse fixture.
Match preview
Vitesse suffered a fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions on Thursday as they were beaten 2-1 by Rapid Vienna in the first leg of their Conference League tie.
Ferdy Druijf and Marco Grull both netted in the first half to leave Thomas Letsch's men with a mountain to climb before Lois Openda pulled one back in the second period.
Prior to that, Geel en Zwart suffered a humiliating 5-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven when the teams faced off on Saturday at GelreDome.
A chance to get their season back on track awaits against an opposing side who have lost each of the last four meetings between the teams by a combined score of 8-3.
Ahead of the conclusion of their European tie, Sunday's visitors will be keen to set the tone with an impressive display this weekend before they set out to overturn a first-leg deficit four days later.
FC Utrecht were denied a third win on the spin following a narrow 1-0 defeat to Heracles at the Erve Asito on Friday.
The game looked set to end in a share of the spoils as it remained level heading into the final 10 minutes before Kaj Sierhuis popped up with an 82nd-minute winner to sink Rene Hake's men.
Having recorded 35 points from their 22 outings so far, De Domstedelingen remain seventh in the Eredivisie table but still possess a five-point gap over the chasing pack in the race for the last European spot.
- D
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
Team News
Christopher Mamengi and Reda Akmum remain sidelined with long-term knee injuries and will not play any part for the home side.
Naoki Maeda and Arthur Zagre are also ruled out through muscle and leg injuries respectively, with the former hauled off just 10 minutes into his Utrecht debut versus Ajax.
Vitesse's Riechedly Bazoer sat out his side's defeat in midweek through injury, and the defender is a major doubt for Sunday's contest.
Matus Bero sat out the aforementioned game due to suspension, but the midfielder is expected back in the starting XI this weekend.
Nineteen-year-old Enzo Cornelisse has missed four consecutive games with an injury layoff but could also make his return to action in this one.
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
De Keijzer; Van der Kust, Janssen, Van der Hoorn, Van der Maarel; Maher, Timber, Mahi, Boussaid; Verrman, Douvikas
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Hajek, Oroz, Doekhi; Wittek, Bero, Tronstad, Dasa; Buitink, Openda, Grbic
We say: FC Utrecht 2-1 Vitesse
Both side have a lot of quality players on show, so we expect an enthralling affair with plenty of goalmouth action. However, Utrecht head into the clash on a better run of form, so we are tipping them to come away with all three points.
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 FC Utrecht win with a probability of 57.28%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Vitesse had a probability of 20.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Utrecht win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.38%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.91%) and 2-0 (9.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.59%), while for a Vitesse win it was 0-1 (5.66%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.6% likelihood.
