Feyenoord travel to face Fortuna Sittard at the Fortuna Sittard Stadion on Sunday afternoon with the knowledge that they must win if they are to keep any hopes of winning the Eredivisie title.
The defending champions are nine points behind league-leading PSV Eindhoven, while the hosts are 10th in the league but just seven points away from the top eight.
Match preview
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Sittard are heading into this one just seven points adrift of the top eight in the Eredivisie, where they would earn a place in the qualification playoff spots for the Europa Conference League.
However, Danny Buijs's men must improve on their recent form if they are to make up that gap, having failed to win in any of their previous three league outings, losing two and drawing one.
That has seen them drop further away from eighth-placed FC Utrecht, who won their match against SC Heerenveen 3-2 last weekend to move seven points clear of Sittard with just five games left to play.
While top scorer Kaj Sierhuis was voted as the league's player of the month for March, thanks to his five goals and two assists, the main problem for Sittard for large parts of this season has been their failure to score goals.
The hosts have scored the least of any team in the top 11 with just 34 in their 29 outings, and just one goal in their previous three matches has had a hand in their three-game streak without victory.
Buijs's side have been much better when playing at home throughout this campaign, securing 25 of their 35 points when playing in front of their home crowd, and they will have to use that to their advantage once again against Feyenoord.
Unfortunately for Sittard, Feyenoord are well-versed in away matches this season, losing just one of their 14 games on the road in the Eredivisie, picking up the second most points of any team in the league away from home.
Arne Slot's side have followed up their title-winning campaign with another fantastic season, second only to a phenomenal PSV team who have dropped points on just four occasions in their 29 league games.
A nine-point gap between first and second place could very quickly swing in Feyenoord's favour if PSV do drop points in the run in to the end of the season, leaving Arne Slot's side still looking to pick up maximum points from their remaining matches to keep any chance of winning the title alive.
The visitors head into this encounter without a loss in the league since a 2-1 defeat to PSV at the beginning of December, while they are currently on a run of eight games without defeat in all competitions.
A hugely impressive 6-0 battering of Ajax last weekend will give them plenty of confidence going into the encounter with Sittard, who they have not lost to since a 4-2 defeat in October 2019.
Team News
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The hosts come into this game potentially missing up to three players due to a mix of suspension and injury problems.
Rodrigo Guth is guaranteed to be out for this one as the defender was dismissed with two yellow card offences in the 35th minute of Sittard's 2-0 defeat to Twente last weekend.
Arianit Ferati and Ragnar Oratmangoen are both doubtful for the upcoming match due to injuries they have sustained over the past weeks.
As for Feyenoord, they come into the game with four players likely to be missing.
Quilindschy Hartman is expected to be out for the remainder of the season after sustaining a knee injury in his side's 4-2 victory over Utrecht at the end of March.
Elsewhere, Gernot Trauner (hamstring), Gjivai Zechiel (knee) and Justin Bijlow (shin) are all doubts for this encounter.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Pinto, Fofana, Voet, Dijks; Ozyakup, Duarte; Halilovic, Lonwijk, Cordoba; Sierhuis
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Wellenreuther; Geertruida, Beelen, Hancko, Lopez; Wieffer, Zerrouki; Minteh, Timber, Paixao; Gimenez
We say: Fortuna Sittard 0-2 Feyenoord
The visitors come into this one on a run of eight games across all competitions without defeat, while they are unbeaten in the last nine meetings between these two teams.
Sittard have struggled for goals in their recent matches, scoring just one in their last three, and we expect that to continue in this game.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
