In search of three league wins on the spin for the first time this season, VVV-Venlo welcome Heerenveen to the Covebo Stadion on Sunday.
On the other hand, Heerenveen are looking for a first win in 10 games, having not won since defeating Sparta Rotterdam 4-1 last November.
Match preview
VVV-Venlo recorded their biggest league win of the season on Wednesday, smashing ADO Den Haag 4-1 away from home.
Hans De Koning's men were victorious against Willem II three days earlier, and have since moved up three places from 17th to 14th in the Eredivisie table.
Four goals from Giorgos Giakoumakis in the 4-0 rout took him up to 16 league goals for the season, five clear of the trio of Teun Koopmeiners, Hank Veerman and Danilo in the race for the top scorer award.
The Greek forward has been excellent for Venlose Trots since joining from AEK Athens in the summer, and has scored his side's last six goals, which have been worth six points.
Despite his best efforts, Venlo are just two points above safety, largely down to the lack of goals from other players, who have scored a combined 10 goals among themselves.
Heerenveen put an end to a three-game losing streak on Thursday, as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by RKC Waalwijk.
Johnny Jansen's men looked like serious candidates to qualify for European football earlier in the season, but they have fallen off the pace in the last two months.
Despite their woeful form - nine games without a victory - in that time, they are in a relatively comfortable position on the log, sitting pretty in ninth place.
History favours them highly in this fixture, as they are unbeaten in the last 15 meetings in all competitions.
VVV-Venlo Eredivisie form: LLLLWW
VVV-Venlo form (all competitions): LWLLWW
Heerenveen Eredivisie form: DDLLLD
Team News
Venlo's Vito van Crooy picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in midweek, and he is suspended for the game.
One of Guus Hupperts or Torino Hunte is expected to play in his stead, despite the fact that neither of them has featured in the last two games.
The home team will also be without 20-year-old Evert Linthorst, who has been one of their better performers this season.
However, he will be returning to action soon in what is shaping up to be a crucial period for VVV.
VVV-Venlo possible starting lineup:
Kirschbaum; Guwara, Da Graca, Gelmi, Dekker; Machach, Post, Janssen; John, Giakoumakis, Hupperts
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mulder; Woudenberg, Bochniewicz, Dresevic, Akujobi; Kongolo, Veerman, Halilovic; Van Bergen, Veerman, Van Der Heide
We say: VVV-Venlo 2-1 Heerenveen
Coming into the game on the back of consecutive victories, VVV-Venlo have the upper hand, and they should get the job done against a side that has not won in over two months.
Top betting 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 40.42%. A win for VVV-Venlo had a probability of 35.7% and a draw had a probability of 23.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Heerenveen win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.68%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (7.31%) and 0-2 (5.83%). The likeliest VVV-Venlo win was 2-1 (8.09%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.86%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 10.9% likelihood.
