The midway round of matches in the 2023-24 Eredivisie season sees FC Volendam welcome Almere City to the Kras Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
Both teams head into this weekend's encounter off the back of respective victories last time out and will be looking to pick up where they left off.
Match preview
FC Volendam cruised to a routine 2-0 victory over Swiss outfit Winterthur in Monday's friendly meeting at the Calista Football Center.
Matthias Kohler's men opened the scoring midway through the second half through Calvin Twigt before Milan de Haan put the result beyond doubt five minutes from time.
Het Andere Oranje are now unbeaten in three straight matches - the first of which was a 2-1 win over Heerenveen that saw them move up to 17th in the Eredivisie table.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing side who have lost each of the last three editions of this fixture and have picked up just one win in seven clashes.
Having let in nine goals in their last two home matches, Sunday's hosts will be wary of another defensive collapse in front of their fans.
Almere City ran out emphatic 4-2 winners against Heerenveen when the teams went head-to-head in a warm-up contest on Saturday afternoon.
Alex Pastoor's men raced to an emphatic four-goal lead thanks to a Layee Kromah brace sandwiched in between strikes from Rajiv van La Parra and Jaden Pinas before Simon Olsson and Pelle van Amersfoort grabbed late strikes to halve the deficit.
With 16 points amassed from as many matches so far, De Zwarte Schapen sit 15th in the league standings, just two points clear of relegation danger.
Currently averaging just one goal per game on their travels, Sunday's visitors will need to up the ante at the top end of the pitch if they are to turn their away fortunes around.
Team News
Dutch duo Joey Antonioli and Koen Blommestijn are both unavailable for Volendam through injury, and neither will play any part in this one.
Lequincio Zeefuik has found the back of the net in both of his last two league outings for the home side, making him one to keep an eye on.
Comoros international Faiz Mattoir remains without an appearance for Almere City since the early stages of last season due to a long-term knee problem.
The away side will also be without the services of 23-year-old Hamdi Akujobi, who is, however, closing in on a return to first-team action.
FC Volendam possible starting lineup:
Backhaus; Flint, Mirani, Mbuyamba; Cox, Booth, Van Driel, De Haan, Buur; Ould-Chikh, Zeefuik
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Jacobs, Mbe Soh, Floranus; Cathline, Koopmeiners, Resink, Ritmeester, Cathline; Robinet, Hansen, Kitala
We say: FC Volendam 1-1 Almere City
Volendam and Almere City boast similar attacking records heading into this one, and we expect neither of them to come away with a clean sheet. We can also see the teams cancelling each other out over the 90 minutes and settling for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
