The bottom side in the Eredivisie table will host its leaders on Sunday, as Almere City welcome Ajax to Yanmar Stadion.
The visitors have moved to the summit with eight straight league victories, while their hosts find themselves 10 points adrift of automatic safety.
Match preview
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Almere City return to Yanmar Stadion on Sunday aiming to give their Eredivisie survival hopes a boost in what has been a tough campaign.
De Zwarte Schapen have sat in the automatic relegation zone for almost the entirety of the season thus far, having only earned 14 points from their 23 league games, winning just three of those and losing 15, having struggled at both ends of the pitch with no side scoring as few as their 15 goals or conceding more than the 47 that they have allowed.
The most recent of their victories came away at Utrecht in early February, thanks to a solitary Junior Kadile goal, but Jeroen Rijsdijk's side have been unable to mount a climb off the bottom of the table since, firstly visiting NEC and being held to a 2-2 draw in agonising fashion as Vito van Crooij drew the hosts level deep into injury time after Ricardo Visus and Hamdi Akujobi had them 2-1 up.
Still with positives to take, De Zwarte Schapen then faced a tough trip to third-placed Feyenoord most recently last weekend, and after leading early through Charles-Andreas Brym and being pegged back by a Julian Carranza equaliser, they were again the victims of a late goal as David Hancko snatched all three points for the hosts in the 91st minute.
Having certainly shown signs of improvement in recent weeks but failed to convert that into points to narrow their gap to safety, Almere City now trail the relegation playoff place by six points and 15th spot by 10, and they will be desperate to record a fourth league win of the season on Sunday to ignite a climb.
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They face a particularly tough test, though, with the visitors aiming to move further clear at the summit with a ninth straight league win.
Aiming to regain the Eredivisie title that they last won in 2022, Ajax have enjoyed a strong campaign thus far, currently sitting top having amassed 57 points from their 23 games, while conceding a league-low tally of 18 goals.
They have taken top spot with a run of eight straight victories in the Dutch top flight, which began with a 3-0 home triumph over Sunday's opponents in the reverse fixture in mid-December, having scored 19 goals and only allowed two in those games.
After scraping past Union SG in their Europa League playoff tie, netting the decisive goal in extra time after a 2-2 aggregate draw, Francesco Farioli's side returned to league action on Sunday and extended their lead over the chasing pack by beating Go Ahead Eagles 2-0 on home turf, as Brian Brobbey opened the scoring before the hour mark and Oliver Edvardsen added a second four minutes from time.
With momentum quickly building for de Godenzonen, having moved five points clear of second-placed PSV Eindhoven in recent weeks, Ajax will now aim to further extend their winning run and complete a double over the hosts to take one step closer to bringing the title back to Amsterdam.
Team News
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Almere City may be unchanged from last weekend's narrow defeat to Feyenoord given their improved display in that game, with defender Theo Barbet and midfielder Alex Carbonell remaining sidelined by injuries.
Junior Kadile will hope to return to the front line, though, having missed that game through suspension, while January arrival Charles-Andreas Brym will continue to lead the line, having netted his first goal for the club last time out with no player in the squad having managed more than two this season.
Key man Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp should again be joined by Thom Haye in midfield, while James Lawrence and Ricardo Viscus will continue their partnership at the heart of a back four in the absence of Barbet.
Ajax continue to contend with an unenviable injury list, with Josip Sutalo, Branco van den Boomen, Owen Wijndal, Christian Rasmussen and Wout Weghorst set to remain confined to the treatment room, while first-choice goalkeeper Remko Pasveer missed their last outing and could also be out of action again.
If his absence continues, Matheus will again start between the sticks, while Daniele Rugani should join Youri Baas at the heart of the defence from the outset.
Oliver Edvardsen and Steven Berguis will both battle for starts in attack, after Mika Godts and Bertrand Traore flanked Brian Brobbey from the outset against Go Ahead Eagles, while Jorthy Mokio will hope to again join Davy Klaassen and top scorer Kenneth Taylor in the midfield despite competition from Kian Fitz-Jim and Jordan Henderson.
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Akujobi, Lawrence, Viscus, Zagaritis; Ritmeester Van De Kamp, Haye; Hansen, Robinet, Kadile; Brym
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Gaaei, Rugani, Baas, Hato; Taylor, Klaassen, Fitz-Jim; Godts, Brobbey, Edvardsen
We say: Almere City 0-2 Ajax
While the hosts have shown more resilience in tough tests in recent weeks and the visitors are hampered by several important injuries, we do not see Almere City halting Ajax's winning run and back Farioli's side to put a ninth straight three-point haul on the board on Sunday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
