The pick of the fixtures in round 16 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season sees AZ Alkmaar visit the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday to face off against Ajax.
The hosts are looking to make it six wins on the bounce while the visitors go in search of a fourth consecutive victory.
Match preview
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Ajax became the latest team to record a perfect Champions League group-stage campaign following a home 4-2 triumph over Sporting Lisbon.
Goals from Sebastien Haller, Antony, David Neres and Steven Berghuis got the job done for Erik ten Hag's men in Amsterdam.
Just before that, de Godenzonen breezed past Willem II 5-0 to maintain their narrow one-point advantage at the top of the standings.
Next up is a clash versus an opposing outfit who have lost each of the last three encounters involving the sides without finding the back of the net.
With a trip to second-placed Feyenoord to follow, Sunday's hosts will be keen to head into that top-of-the-table contest with their lead still intact.
AZ Alkmaar laboured to a 1-0 victory over Randers in their final Conference League group-stage clash at the AFAS Stadion on Thursday.
Having already qualified as group winners, Pascal Jansen's men could afford to take their foot off the gas a bit and required a late Thijs Oosting strike to get the job done.
The Cheeseheads also eased past Sparta Rotterdam 3-1 in their last league outing and are eighth in the standings at the moment.
While Sunday's visitors have not yet hit the heights of previous seasons, they appear to have rediscovered their Midas touch in recent weeks and are more than capable of giving the defending champions a run for their money.
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Team News
Twenty-seven-year-old Sean Klaiber is yet to recover from a knee injury, and he is not expected to be available for the home side on Sunday.
Ajax will also take to the field without the services of first-choice goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, who is sidelined with a hip injury.
Twenty-two-year-old Jelle Duin is ruled out with a knee injury and will not feature for AZ this weekend.
The visitors will also have to make do with the absence of Jordy Clasie, who is ruled out through illness.
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Mazraoui, Timber, Martinez, Blind; Alvarez, Gravenberch, Berghuis; Antony, Tadic, Haller
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Wijndal, Martins Indi, Chatzidiakos, Sugawara; Midtsjo, Reijnders, De Wit; Karlsson, Pavlidis, Gudmundsson
We say: Ajax 3-1 AZ Alkmaar
Ajax have been firing on all cylinders and are big favourites to emerge triumphant in this one. We fancy them to get the job done and secure all three points come the full-time whistle.
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 Ajax win with a probability of 72.03%. A draw had a probability of 16.2% and a win for AZ Alkmaar had a probability of 11.75%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.04%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.36%) and 3-0 (8.47%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.4%), while for an AZ Alkmaar win it was 1-2 (3.45%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 3.4% likelihood.
