A crunch clash at the bottom sees Heracles and RKC Waalwijk go head-to-head at the Asito Stadium on Saturday evening in gameweek 13 of the Eredivisie season.
Both teams head into this one off the back of respective defeats in their final outings before the international break and will be looking to get back to winning ways.
Match preview
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Heracles managed no wins and just three points from their opening five league matches this term, and that looks to have set the tone for what has been a largely underwhelming season to date.
After losing all of their Eredivisie involvements last month, Erwin van de Looi's men closed out October with a KNVB-Beker triumph over Winterswijk before getting November underway with a 2-0 win against Breda.
A third success on the bounce was the target for De Heraclieden when they visited the Stadion Galgenwaard two Fridays ago to face off against FC Utrecht, who would end up 1-0 winners courtesy of Paxten Aaronson's opener midway through the second period.
A victory last time out would have propelled Heracles into the top half, but they sit 15th at the moment, just one point ahead of the relegation playoff place, highlighting how congested the teams are in the Eredivisie table.
Having picked up two-thirds of their 12 points on the board so far from home matches, Saturday's hosts will be keen to emerge triumphant in front of their fans to close out the month on a winning note before a tough December run which includes matches against AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord.
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Fresh from recording a much-needed maiden win of the season at the 11th time of asking against Almere City six days prior, Waalwijk welcomed NEC Nijmegen to the Mandemakers Stadion on October 9.
Despite being on top for large spells of the first half, Henk Fraser's men went into the interval on level terms but down a player following Daouda Weidmann's sending-off, after which Koki Ogawa, Sami Ouaissa and Ivan Marquez got themselves on the scoresheet in the second period.
A 10th defeat already from just 12 matches so far means that RKC remain rooted to the bottom of the standings and are already a whopping eight points adrift of safety ahead of this weekend's trip to Almelo.
Waalwijk saw their defensive malaise come to the fore once again last time out to take their tally of goals conceded for the season to 31, at least four more than any other team in the division with Almere City (27) in second place.
In the first of two straight games against teams currently in the bottom six, Saturday's visitors simply cannot afford to lose further ground on the teams around them to avoid being left too far behind in the race for survival.
Team News
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Midfielder Daouda Weidmann is ineligible to play any part for Waalwijk this weekend after receiving his marching orders for two bookable offences in the defeat to NEC.
This should mean a recall to the starting lineup for Yassin Oukili, who has found himself on the periphery of late with no starting appearance since early September.
Dutch duo Nouri El Harmazi and Michiel Kramer are still unavailable through shoulder and knee injuries respectively, although the former is drawing increasingly closer to a comeback.
Sem Scheperman and Nikolai Laursen will not play any part for Heracles here as they continue to nurse knee injuries, with the latter yet to appear since early January.
Twenty-three-year-old Sava-Arangel Cestic will also miss Saturday's clash through a long-term ankle problem and is joined on the hosts' treatment table by Stijn Bultman.
Heracles possible starting lineup:
De Keijzer; Roosken, Mesik, Mirani, Benita; Zamburek, De Keersmaecker; Engels, Bruijn, Podgoreanu; Kulenovic
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Van Gelderen, Van Eijma, Van den Buijs, Wouters; Roemeratoe, Oukili; Margaret, Van der Venne, Van der Water; Zawada
We say: Heracles 2-1 RKC Waalwijk
While neither team can boast of a potent attacking unit heading into this one, the defensive frailties across the teams should result in goals at both ends.
That said, we are tipping Heracles to carry the day, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
