Two teams separated by a single point in the bottom half of the Eredivisie table will do battle on Friday, as Almere City welcome SBV Excelsior to the Yanmar Stadion.
The visitors have recently leapfrogged their opponents and climbed to 11th spot in the Dutch top flight, while Almere sit just two places above the relegation zone given how tight the bottom half of the division is.
Match preview
Almere City return to action on Friday with the aim of bouncing back to winning ways and putting more distance between themselves and the Eredivisie relegation zone, having only recently climbed out of the bottom three.
Following their promotion from the Dutch second tier last time around, De Zwarte Schapen found themselves 16th after 15 league outings with just 13 points on the board on the back of three straight wins, but they were able to improve their fortunes around the turn of the year.
Alex Pastoor's side returned to winning ways in eye-catching fashion in their final Eredivisie game of 2023, thrashing Vitesse Arnhem 5-0 before returning to top-flight action in mid-January with a 1-0 triumph away at Volendam thanks to Thomas Robinet's early goal.
A pair of meetings with Fortuna Sittard then followed, and after exiting the KNVB Cup, the Zwarte Schapen added another point to their tally in a goalless draw, before most recently travelling to runaway leaders PSV Eindhoven on Saturday and seeing their unbeaten streak halted in a 2-0 defeat.
With no reason to take disappointment from that setback, with PSV having only dropped points once in 19 outings this term, Almere City will aim to build on their recent improvement and climb to 14th spot with a return to winning ways on Friday.
Their visitors are similarly aiming to move further away from the threat of relegation in Friday's meeting, having recently bounced back from a dismal run of Eredivisie form.
Following their 15th-placed finish last time around, Excelsior set out to again preserve their top-flight status this season, and they enjoyed a pleasing start, earning 12 points from their first seven outings including three victories.
The Kralingers Roodzwarten were unable to maintain that pace though and quickly hit a rut, picking up just five points from the next nine outings to round off 2023, before a 3-1 beating away at PSV Eindhoven on their return in January stretched a winless run to 10 top-flight matches.
That dip in form saw Marinus Dijkhuizen's side drop to 15th spot, and then on the back of a KNVB Cup exit at the hands of Groningen, they were finally able to put a fourth league win of the season on the board in a 3-0 triumph over Heerenveen thanks to goals from Couhaib Driouech, Troy Parrott and Lazaros Lamprou.
Having now most recently built on that victory with another point from a 1-1 draw with Utrecht, thanks to Siebe Horemans's equaliser, Excelsior find themselves 11th in the Eredivisie, six points above the drop zone and two outside of the top half, and they will set out to further improve their standing with another positive result to make it three games unbeaten on Friday.
Team News
Almere City are unlikely to make many changes from their 2-0 defeat away at PSV Eindhoven last time out, but they will be unable to call on defender Sherel Floranus, who will serve a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards, while forward Faiz Mattoir will remain confined to the treatment room through injury.
In Floranus's absence, Theo Barbet may come into the back four with Damian van Bruggen and Loic Mbe Soh bound to continue in the middle, while Stije Resink and Peer Koopmeiners will again partner up in the engine room.
In their 4-2-3-1 shape, the line will again be led by Thomas Robinet, who has notched up seven goals in 19 Eredivisie appearances so far this term, while Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp and Yoann Cathline will hope to continue on the wings.
Excelsior will continue to deal with several injury issues, as Serano Seymor, Lennard Hartjes, Raphael Eyongo and Jacky Donkor remain sidelined by injuries, and Marinus Dijkhuizen may opt to deploy an unchanged starting XI from their draw with Utrecht last time out after only making one alteration from the 3-0 beating of Heerenveen.
That change came on the wing, with Lazaros Lamprou missing out at the weekend, and if he is unable to return in time to feature on Friday, Derensili Sanches Fernandes should again join Noah Naujoks and Couhaib Driouech in a supporting trio behind lone striker Troy Parrott, who has netted six goals since arriving on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.
Behind them, Kenzo Goudmijn and Julian Baas will again partner up in midfield, while Redouan El Yaakoubi and Casper Widell will continue in the centre of the back four.
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Jacobs, Mbe Soh, Van Bruggen, Barbet; Resink, Koopmeiners; Ritmeester van de Kamp, Pena, Cathline; Robinet
SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:
Van Gassel; Horemans, Widell, El Yaakoubi, Zagre; Baas, Goudmijn; Sanches Fernandes, Naujoks, Driouech; Parrott
We say: Almere City 1-1 SBV Excelsior
Both sides have cause for optimism based on their results in recent weeks, and we anticipate a tight encounter on Friday with a share of the spoils being the most likely outcome.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
