Matchday 17 of the 2023-24 Eredivisie season sees Vitesse and FC Utrecht square off against each other at the GelreDome Stadion on Sunday afternoon.
The teams will be looking to return to winning ways in this weekend's affair, having both failed to come out on top in their respective last outings.
Match preview
Vitesse fell to a 2-0 defeat against Bundesliga outfit Bochum in Sunday's friendly encounter between the sides at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.
Edward Sturing's men went behind early on to Keven Schlotterback's opener before the defender doubled his tally 11 minutes from time to seal the deal.
This came off the back of a 1-0 victory over Heerenveen for Geel en Zwart which saw them secure safe passage into the last 16 of the KNVB-Beker.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose over the most recent five meetings, which have yielded two wins apiece and one stalemate.
Unbeaten in four of their last five home matches, Sunday's hosts have turned a corner on home turf and will be looking to move up the Eredivisie table with another positive result in front of their fans.
FC Utrecht showed great powers of recovery on multiple occasions to play out a thrilling 4-4 draw against Belgian lower league side Beveren.
Bart Ramselaar, Can Bozdogan, Souffian El Karouani and Silas Andersen were all on target to force a share of the spoils for Ron Jans's men.
With 17 points amassed from 16 league matches so far, the Domstedelingen sit 14th in the standings, just three points clear of the drop zone.
Currently with one of the poorest attacking records away from home, Sunday's visitors have work to do in front of goal as they look to steer clear of relegation danger.
Team News
Utrecht's Ivar Jenner is currently on international duty with Indonesia at the ongoing Asian Cup, ruling him out of contention for this one.
The visitors will also have to make do with the absence of Isac Lidberg and Anthony Descotte, although the latter is not far off making his comeback.
Defender Carlens Arcus is unavailable for Vitesse through an ankle injury, while Miliano Jonathans misses out due to a long-term knee problem.
Twenty-one-year-old Fode Fofana has made just three appearances for the visitors since his season-long loan move from PSV Eindhoven due to a damaged knee.
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Room; Cornelisse, Hendriks, Isimat-Mirin, Van Zwam; Domgjoni, Meulensteen; De Regt, Kozlowski, Manhoef; Van Ginkel
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; El Karouani, Viergever, Flamingo, Ter Avest; Iqbal, Bozdogan; Boussaid, Jensen, Booth; Romeny
We say: Vitesse 0-1 FC Utrecht
Utrecht are on a significantly better run of results heading into this one and will fancy their chances of getting the job done. We can see the away side coming out on top, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
