An out-of-sorts Heerenveen host title-chasing Ajax in the Eredivisie on Sunday lunchtime.
Kees van Wonderen's side salvaged a point in a bonkers 3-3 draw against FC Twente to avoid yet another defeat last weekend, while Ajax stayed three points behind league-leading Feyenoord with a 1-0 win over NEC.
Match preview
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After taking a first-half lead through a Mees Hilgers own goal, Heerenveen fell 3-1 down away to Twente within ten minutes of the restart, desperately rescuing a draw thanks to a smart finish from Milan van Ewijk and Rami Kaib's 90th-minute header.
The Friesland outfit avoided a third consecutive defeat with those last-gasp heroics but have struggled for consistency since their previous meeting with Ajax; the Amsterdam giants brought Heerenveen's five-game unbeaten start to the season to a screeching halt with a 5-0 thrashing at the Johan Cruyff Arena in September.
Heerenveen's fans have been starved of points and goals lately, with the club enduring a four-game losing sequence at the Abe Lenstra Stadium.
The ninth-placed side have been involved in more goalless draws than any other team in the division this season, scoring only 27 goals in 24 league games - Ajax have plundered 31 goals in just their away matches this term.
As a long-serving Feyenoord defender, Van Wonderen will have extra motivation to hamper Ajax's attempts to chase down his former employers - although, modern-day history is not on his side, collectively or individually.
Over recent years this has been a painfully one-sided fixture, with Heerenveen losing their last nine meetings with Ajax, including both of the previous two by the same 5-0 scoreline - the upcoming hosts have not beaten their Amsterdam opponents since doing the league double over them in the 2008-09 campaign.
The playing days of both managers follow the dominant force in this fixture; Van Wonderen lost more games to Ajax than any other club during his time on the pitch, while Johnny Heitinga recorded a career-high nine wins against Heerenveen.
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When Heitinga was appointed in January, Ajax were teetering on the brink of turmoil, languishing in fifth after a desperate sequence of seven league games without victory.
While Ajax did exit the Europa League at the hands of Bundesliga surprise package Union Berlin, Heitinga has steered the club to six consecutive league victories since securing the first senior managerial role of his career.
Originally only intended to be a stop-gap, it was confirmed after just one game - a 4-1 thrashing of Excelsior - that Heitinga would remain at the helm for the remainder of the season with the veteran assistant Dwight Lodeweges serving as the 39-year-old's number two.
Mohammed Kudus scored the only goal of a game Ajax dominated against NEC last weekend in a display which underlined the team's renewed defensive resilience under Heitinga - the capital club have conceded just three goals during his reign.
Team News
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Van Wonderen has been without his first-choice goalkeeper Andries Noppert and club captain Sven van Beek since January; Heerenveen have conceded 16 goals in the seven matches both of these totemic figures have missed, as many as they shipped in the first 17 games of the season - both are expected to miss Ajax's visit.
Pawel Bochniewicz was forced off injured against Twente last weekend but is set to be part of the squad - although, doubts linger over the Amsterdam-born midfielder Thom Haye who missed the match entirely with illness.
Heerenveen's top scorer Sydney van Hooijdonk - son of former Nottingham Forest striker (in all senses of the word) Pierre - missed his first game of the season last weekend with a hip problem which may sideline him again this Sunday alongside the scarcely spotted Timo Zaal.
Ajax's 20-year-old Turkish centre-back Ahmetcan Kaplan is yet to make his debut for the club after arriving in the summer and swiftly damaging his knee ligaments.
Across his six league matches in charge, Heitinga has already used 20 different players, whereas Van Wonderen has only called upon 25 distinct individuals throughout the entire season - only NEC have used fewer players than Heerenveen this term.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mous; Van Ewijk, Bruma, Van Aken, Kaib; Tahiri, Olsson; Nunnely, Van Amersfoort, Colassin; Karlsbakk
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Rulli; Rensch, Timber, Bassey, Wijndal; Berghuis, Alvarez, Klaassen; Kudus, Tadic, Bergwijn
We say: Heerenveen 0-2 Ajax
While there is the possibility that some Ajax minds may wander to next weekend - when they host league-leading Feyenoord - it is unlikely that Heerenveen will be able to take advantage of any dip and end the winning sequence of their once-again ominous visitors.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
