After their five-game unbeaten Eredivisie run was ended last weekend, Heerenveen will be looking for a positive response when they face fierce rivals Cambuur in the Frisian derby on Sunday.
The visitors, meanwhile, enter the contest in poor form after losing their last six matches, although a victory on Sunday would lift them above Heerenveen in the league table.
Match preview
Heerenveen enter Sunday's contest in 11th place, and with just four matches left to play, they sit two points adrift of the Europa Conference League playoffs.
Sunday's hosts seemed on course to climb into the top eight after enjoying a five-match unbeaten run that included two victories.
However, their promising run of form was ended last week by AZ Alkmaar, who edged out Heerenveen at the AFAS Stadion to clinch a 2-1 win, ensuring that De Superfriezen are yet to win an away game in 2022.
Amin Sarr gave the visitors an early lead in that contest, but goals from Jesper Karlsson and Tijani Reijnders turned the game on its head to condemn Heerenveen to defeat.
The hosts, who have won the last three derby encounters, do have the chance to claim a third consecutive league victory on Sunday.
Cambuur, on the other hand, sat in seventh position with 27 points to their name after 16 games, but since a 3-1 victory over Willem II on December 10, Sunday's visitors have won just one of their last 14 league matches.
They have also lost their previous six games, although they can take encouragement from their battling display at home to PSV Eindhoven last weekend.
Cambuur hit the front within two minutes thanks to Patrick Joosten's opener, but they were pegged back just before the break by an Eran Zahavi equaliser.
Their task against a high-quality PSV team became all that more difficult when Sekou Sylla was sent off and the visitors took full advantage, with Mario Gotze netting in the 65th minute to condemn the Yellow-Blues to a 2-1 defeat.
Despite their poor run of form, the visitors are just three points adrift of the top eight and a win on Sunday would help them leapfrog their rivals in the league table.
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Team News
Pawel Bochniewicz has recently returned to Heerenveen training, although the long-term injury absentee is not expected to feature in Sunday's derby contest.
After serving their respective one-match suspensions, Rami Kaib and Ibrahim Dresevic are set to come back into the starting lineup.
Meanwhile, Sarr scored his third league goal of the season last weekend, and the 21-year-old is expected to partner Sydney van Hooijdonk in the forward line.
As for the visitors, they are without Tom Boere, Alex Bangura and Maxim Gullit due to injury issues, while Sylla is suspended for the derby.
With Sylla unavailable, David Sambissa is expected to slot in at left-back to accompany Erik Schouten, Calvin Mac-Intosch and Doke Schmidt in a back four.
Sonny Stevens has recovered from injury and the goalkeeper's return to could result in Pieter Bos dropping down to the bench.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Van Beek, Bakker, Dresevic; Akujobi, Tahiri, Haye, Halilovic, Kaib; Sarr, Van Hooijdonk
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Stevens; Schmidt, Mac-Intosch, Schouten, Sambissa; Jacobs, Hoedemakers, Maulun; Kallon, Joosten, Uldrikis
We say: Heerenveen 2-1 Cambuur
Sunday's meeting will be the first time since 2016 that the Frisian derby has taken place in front of fans after the reverse fixture was played in an empty stadium.
Although form can go out the window in derby matches, such has been Cambuur's drop off in form in the second half of the season, we think that they will be unable to trouble Heerenveen, who have won their previous two home games.
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 Heerenveen win with a probability of 51.98%. A win for Cambuur had a probability of 24.34% and a draw had a probability of 23.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.03%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.71%) and 2-0 (8.72%). The likeliest Cambuur win was 0-1 (6.43%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.17%). The actual scoreline of 3-3 was predicted with a 1.2% likelihood.
