Feyenoord welcome Fortuna Sittard to De Kuip on Sunday aiming to get back to winning ways after dropping points in their last two games.
The visitors were victorious in their last outing away from home, and they will be looking for another triumph on the road as they make a late push to finish in the top half.
Match preview
© Reuters
Feyenoord were held to a draw for the second game running as they dropped points against Emmen in a 1-1 stalemate a fortnight ago.
Orkun Kokcu's long-range strike gave Dick Advocaat's men the lead going into half time, but Michael de Leeuw evened the contest from the spot with 11 minutes left to play.
De Stadionclub are now four points adrift of Vitesse in the race for fourth, and a further three behind third-placed AZ Alkmaar.
They have been beaten on their own patch only once this season in 13 Eredivisie matches, scoring the league's joint-highest tally of 18 goals on home turf since the turn of the year.
None of the last seven meetings between Sunday's opponents has ended in a draw, with the hosts winning on five occasions while the visitors have been triumphant twice.
Fortuna were defeated for the second home match on the bounce in a 1-0 loss to Utrecht in their last involvement before the international break.
Having kept their visitors at bay for the majority of the game, Sittard's resolve was broken with nine minutes left to play by Adrian Dalmau's game-winner off the bench.
Sjors Ultee's men are 11th in the Eredivisie table with 34 points, five places and eight points better off the prematurely ended 2019/20 campaign.
With no danger of relegation in sight, the Fortunezen can approach their remaining games under little pressure as they are set for their highest league finish since gaining promotion back in 2018.
- D
- D
- L
- W
- D
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Bart Nieuwkoop suffered a thigh injury on the last day of February versus AZ Alkmaar, and as a result, he is ruled out for Sunday's game.
Mark Diemers and Christian Conteh will also miss the match due to muscle injuries, but the latter is not far off a return to action.
Dutch midfielder Leroy Fer rounds up the hosts' list of injuries as he is yet to make his comeback from a groin problem.
Piet Velthuizen is Fortuna's only absentee for the game as he continues to battle with a muscle injury through which he has missed his side's last three outings.
Mats Seuntjens has been directly involved in five goals in his last five away games, and he will be called upon once again to lead his side to victory.
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Marsman; Geertruida, Spajic, Senesi, Malacia; Toornstra, Kokcu, Teixeira; Berghuis, Jorgensen, Linssen
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Van Osch; Cox, Tirpan, Angha, Rota; Hansson, Rienstra, Tekie, Semedo; Seuntjens, Flemming
We say: Feyenoord 2-1 Fortuna Sittard
Both sides have had mixed results in recent weeks coming into this one, and they will be looking to string together a good run as the season reaches its conclusion. We are tipping Feyenoord to come out victorious in what should be a very tight game.
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 Feyenoord win with a probability of 69.7%. A draw had a probability of 17.1% and a win for Fortuna Sittard had a probability of 13.19%.
The most likely scoreline for a Feyenoord win was 2-0 with a probability of 9.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.52%) and 3-0 (7.95%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.76%), while for a Fortuna Sittard win it was 1-2 (3.8%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 9.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-0 win for Feyenoord in this match.
