Two teams on contrasting paths in the Eredivisie will face off this weekend when PSV Eindhoven head to Kras Stadion to take on FC Volendam on Sunday evening.
The hosts sit atop the league standings and have opened up a 10-point gap between themselves and the chasing pack, while the visitors are second bottom and already seven points from safety.
Match preview
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After avoiding the drop by 13 points last season, the 2023-24 campaign has been a bit of a nightmare for Volendam, who head into this match level with bottom club Vitesse on just 12 points.
To date, the Other Oranje have managed just three wins, three draws and 14 losses, with the most recent defeat coming last weekend when they were comprehensively beaten on the road by Utrecht.
Their poor run of form this season led to the club opting to part ways with Matthias Kohler in December, just 15 matches into his tenure, with Regillio Simons being appointed as the man to steer the side to safety
However, the new boss will already be feeling the pressure as he has yet to win a match in charge, drawing one and losing three of his first four while conceding seven and scoring just two goals in that time.
Unsurprisingly, the hosts are massive underdogs here, and while a victory in this match may be a bridge too far, the manager will be looking for a positive performance from his side before their crucial bottom-of-the-table clash against Vitesse next week.
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Meanwhile, after finishing each of the last three seasons in second place in the Eredivisie, PSV are leaving nothing to chance this term and head into this match with 56 points and clear daylight between themselves and Feyenoord in second place.
The Farmers are the only side in the Dutch top flight that are still unbeaten after 20 matches this term, surpassing the longest-ever unbeaten streak from the start of a campaign which they posted back in the 1987-88 campaign.
During that run, they also set a new record of scoring two or more goals in 20 consecutive league matches led by Luuk de Jong, who is now outright tenth on the Eredivisie's all-time top scorer list.
While Peter Bosz's side were held to only their second draw of the season last week by Ajax, they still have an excellent away record of eight wins in 10 this term and last lost a league match on the road back in January last year.
PSV claimed a straightforward 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture last September and are on a three-match winning streak against this opponent, outscoring them 13-4 during their winning streak.
Team News
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Volendam have several players missing due to injury, including long-term absentees Joey Antonioli and Diego Gustavo, who are expected to remain sidelined for the foreseeable future.
Deron Payne and Darius Johnson are also ruled out of Sunday's match due to injury, while Josh Flint is flagged as a doubt but has not been ruled out of contention just yet.
Richard Ledezma could return to the PSV squad this weekend after a spell on the sidelines, while midfielder Ismael Saibari will also be available after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations with Morocco.
However, Noa Lang (hamstring) and Malik Tillman (hip) will play no part in the match due to injury, while Joey Veerman and Armel Bella-Kotchap are doubts owing to leg and muscle injuries respectively.
FC Volendam possible starting lineup:
Backhaus; Buur, Benamar, Mirani, Guessand, Cox; Le Roux, De Haan, Twigt; Booth, Ould-Chikh
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Teze, Silva, Boscagli, Dest; Schouten, Junior, Bakayoko, Saibari, Lozano; De Jong
We say: FC Volendam 1-3 PSV Eindhoven
Despite drawing their last two away games, it is difficult to see PSV losing this match against a side that has lost eight (D1 L1) of their last 10 league games and were comfortably beaten in the reverse fixture. We are expecting a one-sided match here and fancy the visitors to ease to victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
