Although separated by two places in the Eredivisie table, low-scoring Groningen are 15 points adrift of FC Twente heading into Saturday's gameweek 24 match at Euroborg.
Both sides are in healthy form in the top flight, with the hosts winning two on the trot, while the sixth-placed visitors are unbeaten in four, having secured consecutive league victories before this weekend.
Match preview
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Groningen return to Eredivisie action on Saturday, a fortnight after a 3-1 victory over Willem II saw the FC secure back-to-back top-flight triumphs for the first time since August, when they beat NAC Breda (4-1) and RKC Waalwijk (2-1).
Those wins at the start of this season preceded a nine-match winless sequence for Dick Lukkien's side, which included six straight losses until a 1-0 success over Sparta Rotterdam at the start of November.
Further wins over Willem II (2-0) and Heerenveen (1-0) were followed by draws against PEC Zwolle and Heracles until De FC ended a six-month wait for consecutive Eredivisie triumphs.
The recent victories have seen Groningen rise to eighth, potentially into the Conference League qualifying slots, but the Pride of the North, on 27 points, are locked in an eight-team battle to finish eighth or ninth, with three points separating Lukkien's men from fourth-bottom Heracles.
Possibly slipping out of the top nine places this weekend adds to the home side's motivation, as they aim to secure three consecutive top-flight wins for the first time since 2020 — when De FC notched four on the trot from November to December of that year — to extend their six-match unbeaten home run, including two victories on the spin heading into Saturday.
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Sixth-placed Twente are unlikely to be so compliant, given their four-team battle to end in the top three places to compete in the Champions League third qualifying round and a 10-match unbeaten league run in this fixture.
The Pride of the East's last defeat against Saturday's opponent was in September 2017; since that 1-0 reverse, the Tukkers have secured five wins from 10 meetings, including a 2-0 success on December 15.
With Joseph Oosting's troops a point behind Feyenoord, AZ and Utrecht (43 points) in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, dropped points in the campaign's concluding rounds will diminish Twente's prospects of a return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
Nevertheless, this weekend's outcome is contingent on Twente overcoming a five-match winless sequence on their travels, including defeats at PSV (6-1), AZ (1-0) and NAC Breda (2-1).
Even though those losses were followed by a 2-2 draw with Go Ahead Eagles and a thrilling 3-3 tie at Heerenveen, against whom they led 2-0 and 3-2 before conceding a stoppage-time equaliser, Oosting's side have now failed to keep an away clean sheet since defeating Willem II at the start of November.
Having conceded in 10 of their 12 away fixtures this term — Twente's first clean sheet on the road was in a 5-0 success over Almere City in September — another concession at this weekend's hosts will not surprise the travelling support.
Team News
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Sven Bouland and Fofin Turay will be assessed before Saturday, although Marvin Peersman's broken foot is expected to keep him out until the final month of this season.
No player has scored more than three times for the low-scoring hosts, with Jorg Schreuders and Brynjolfur Willumsson netting three goals each for the home side, whose 22 goals rank third-bottom in the league above Sparta Rotterdam (19) and Almere City (15).
De FC have had five different goalscorers in their recent wins over NEC (2-1) and Willem II (3-1): Wouter Prins, Thom van Bergen, Dave Kwakman, Stije Resink and Tika de Jonge.
Although Oosting has a healthy Twente squad for this weekend, Younes Taha is not expected to feature as the winger nears a return after an extended layoff due to a broken leg.
Eredivisie leading goalscorer Sem Steijn aims to add to his 18 top-flight goals this weekend; the forward has scored seven match-opening goals and notched three match-winning strikes — two shy of Ajax pair Wout Weghorst and Kenneth Taylor.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Rente, Stam, Ekdal, Prins; Jonge, Resink; Seuntjens, Valente, Kwakman; Bergen
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Rooj, Lagerbielke, Bruns, Kuipers; Sadilek, Vlap; Rots, Steijn, Ltaief; Wolfswinkel
We say: Groningen 1-1 FC Twente
Despite the precedent favouring Twente, Groningen have conceded six times on home soil all season — only Feyenoord have scored twice at Euroborg this term in a 2-2 draw in mid-September — which suggests that Saturday's clash might be a low-scoring affair; thus, the spoils could be shared between these clubs.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
