Matchday 23 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season commences with a meeting between Sparta Rotterdam and FC Utrecht at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel on Friday.
Having both failed to come out on top in their respective last outings, the teams set out to return to winning ways and get themselves back on track.
Match preview
FC Utrecht played out a thrilling 2-2 stalemate against PSV Eindhoven when the sides faced off at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday afternoon.
Michael Silberbauer's men opened the scoring in the 33rd minute through Othman Boussaid after which goals from Johan Bakayoko and Luuk de Jong turned the game on its head, only for Sander van de Streek to level matters right on the hour mark.
While the Domstedelingen remain seventh in the Eredivisie table, a couple of teams in and around are beginning to bear down on them in the race for continental football.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are yet to emerge victorious in any of the last 16 editions of this fixture dating back to 2009.
Having failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their six away games since the turn of the year, Friday's visitors will be looking to keep things tight at the back en route to a positive result.
Sparta Rotterdam suffered a first defeat in seven matches as they were on the receiving end of a 4-0 thrashing against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday.
Two goals from Dusan Tadic either side of Kenneth Taylor's strike left Maurice Steijn's men with a mountain to climb before Mohammed Kudus put the final nail in the coffin.
With 37 points picked up from their 22 matches so far, De Kasteelheren sit sixth in the league standings, seven points adrift of the final automatic European spot.
Currently with the fourth-best home record in the division, Friday's hosts have turned a corner in front of their fans, losing just once in the last 11 outings across all competitions.
Team News
Koki Saito recently made his first start for Sparta since returning from an injury layoff and the 21-year-old is expected to retain his place in the lineup.
Despite coming off with an injury scare earlier in the month, Mica Pinto was fit enough to feature against Ajax last time out, which saw him retain his record of being an ever-present for the hosts this term.
Utrecht's Bas Dost is set to miss a seventh straight game due to a foot injury, while Amin Younes and Calvin Raatsie remain out of action through muscle and ankle problems respectively.
January arrival Zakaria Labyad joins Django Warmerdam on the sidelines due to knee injuries, but the former is drawing increasingly nearer to making his comeback.
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Olij; Pinto, Auassar, Abels, Sambo; Kitolano, De Guzman; Van Crooy, Verschueren, Namli; Lauritsen
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Klaiber, Viergever, Toornstra, Van der Hoorn; Booth, Sagnan; Bozdogan, Douvikas, Van de Streek; Boussaid
We say: Sparta Rotterdam 1-1 FC Utrecht
Sparta are on a better run of results heading into the clash, but Utrecht's record in this fixture means that we cannot rule them out just yet. As a result, we are backing the teams to cancel each other out and settle for a point apiece in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
