SBV Excelsior and FC Twente will battle it out for three important points at Van Donge & De Roo Stadion on Saturday in round 27 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season.
Both teams came out on top in their respective most recent outings and will be looking to pick up where they left off before the international break.
Match preview
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Twente picked up consecutive league wins for the first time this year courtesy of a 2-1 victory against AZ Alkmaar at De Grolsch Veste two Sundays ago.
Manfred Ugalde netted a quickfire brace to hand Ron Jans's men a two-goal lead inside the opening 11 minutes after which Jesper Karlsson halved the deficit with a quarter of the game left to play.
While the Tukkers remain fifth in the Eredivisie table, they have now closed the gap on PSV Eindhoven to six points in the race for the final automatic European spot.
Lying in store next is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have lost just one of the last five clashes between the teams across all competitions.
However, that solitary defeat did come in the most recent encounter back in August when Saturday's visitors cruised to a 3-0 triumph in the season's reverse fixture.
SBV Excelsior ended a run of eight matches without a victory and five straight defeats in grand style by emphatically beating SC Cambuur 4-1 in the sides' meeting on March 9.
Marinus Dijkhuizen's men raced to a three-goal lead early on thanks to strikes from Kenzo Goudmijn and Siebe Horemans either side of Leon Bergsma's own goal before Lazaros Lamprou completed the rout just past the half-hour mark.
As a result, the Kralingers have moved outside the drop zone into 15th place in the league standings, albeit just two points clear of the bottom three.
In the first of two straight matches against teams in the current top five, Saturday's visitors will be keen to put on a fine display as they aim to move clear of relegation danger.
Team News
Mees Hilgers is a doubt for Twente having come off with an injury scare last time out, while Wout Brama and Mathias Kjolo are unavailable through ankle and jawbone problems respectively.
The away side will also be without the services of Dutch duo Denilho Cleonise and Daan Rots, who are joined on the treatment table by Michal Sadilek.
Manfred Ugalde has scored found the back of the net four times in his last three appearances, and the Costa Rican is definitely one to keep an eye on.
Vicente Besuijen and Adrian Fein remain sidelined for Excelsior through muscle injuries as 24-year-old Jacky Donkor continues to nurse a long-term knee problem.
Defender Maxime Awoudja set to sit out a sixth game on the bounce due to a hamstring injury which he picked up in a 2-0 defeat against AZ Alkmaar last month.
SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:
Van Gassel; Zagre, El Yaakoubi, Nieuwpoort, Horemans; Koopmeiners, Goudmijn; Azarkan, Baas, Lamprou; Agrafiotis
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Smal, Propper, Pleguezuelo, Brenet; Zerrouki, Vlap, Salah-Eddine; Cerny, Ugalde, Van Wolfswinkel
We say: SBV Excelsior 1-2 FC Twente
Excelsior have enjoyed the better of this fixture of late, but Twente are on a better run of results heading into this weekend's game. We anticipate a keenly-contested affair with goals at both ends and the away side narrowly coming away with all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
