Eredivisie champions Ajax draw the curtain on matchday 21 of the 2021-22 campaign by welcoming Heracles to the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday.
The home side are looking to record a seventh victory on the bounce, while the visitors seek to extend their unbeaten across all competitions to six matches.
Match preview
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Ajax claimed a crucial 2-1 victory over title challengers PSV Eindhoven when the sides faced off against each other at the Phillips Stadion two Sundays ago.
Erik ten Hag's men went into the interval with a slender lead courtesy of Brian Brobbey's opener but were soon pegged back early in the second half thanks to Mario Gotze before Noussair Mazraoui popped up with a 74th-minute winner.
Consequently, De Godenzonen have leapfrogged their recent victims in the Eredivisie standings and currently lead the way with a two-point cushion.
Their next assignment comes against one of only five teams to have denied the 35-time champions a victory in the reverse fixture following a goalless draw back in October.
However, Sunday's hosts are averaging just under four goals per game across 10 matches on home turf this term and will certainly take some stopping this weekend.
Heracles were involved in a third consecutive share of the spoils courtesy of a 1-1 stalemate versus Go Ahead Eagles at the Erve Asito on January 23.
Frank Wormuth's men took the lead in the 32nd minute thanks to Kaj Sierhuis's strike before conceding a late equaliser to Isac Lidberg 17 minutes from time.
With 20 points from as many matches so far, The Heraclieden remain 14th in the table but have now extended their lead over the drop zone to six points.
Sunday's visitors did secure a narrow 1-0 victory over Cambuur in a midweek friendly which should give them a huge confidence boost heading into such a tough assignment.
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Team News
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Andre Onana is still on duty with Cameroon at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations but leading goalscorer Sebastien Haller is expected to be back for this one.
Ajax will be without the services of Sean Klaiber and Maarten Stekelenburg who are currently ruled out through knee and hip injuries respectively.
Twenty-one-year-old Mohammed Kudus is also a huge doubt for this one as he is yet to fully recuperate from a ribs injury which he sustained in November.
Heracles' duo of Ismail Azzaoui and Kasper Jakobsen are unavailable for this weekend's contest as they remain sidelined with long-term knee injuries.
Navajo Bakboord has recently returned from an injury layoff, and the Dutch defender is in line to make a second consecutive league start for the first time this term.
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Blind, Martinez, Timber, Mazraoui; Gravenberch, Berghuis, Alvarez; Tadic, Haller, Antony
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Bakboord, Rente, Knoester, Quagliata; Schoofs, De la Torre, Kiomourtzoglou; Laursen, Sierhuis, Basacikoglu
We say: Ajax 4-0 Heracles
Having just recently reclaimed top stop, Ajax will be looking to pull clear of all title contenders and three points this weekend would certainly be a step in the right direction. We fancy them to cruise to a comfortable victory, scoring plenty of goals en route.
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 Ajax win with a probability of 89.79%. A draw had a probability of 7% and a win for Heracles had a probability of 3.19%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 3-0 with a probability of 10.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 4-0 (9.92%) and 2-0 (8.7%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (3.15%), while for a Heracles win it was 1-2 (1.06%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 10.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 3-0 win for Ajax in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Ajax.
