This weekend's standalone Saturday fixture in the Eredivisie will come from Abe Lenstra Stadion, where Heerenveen will be playing host to Almere City.
With the majority of the league fixtures being played from midweek onward, the hosts could get back into the top eight with a win here, while the visitors have a chance to move off the foot of the table.
Match preview
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Heerenveen will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways this weekend after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Sparta Rotterdam on the road last time out, which saw them slide two places in the league standings.
Despite having the lion's share of possession last week, Heerenveen struggled to create many clear-cut chances and were already three goals down by the time Alireza Jahanbakhsh slotted away a consolation goal from the penalty spot in injury time.
With that, De Superfriezen have now lost three of their last five league games (W1 D1 L3), which is a notable downturn after losing as many games in 11 matches prior, dating back to the end of November.
Robin Veldman's side have not kept a clean sheet since mid-December and have conceded 52 goals to date, which is the third-most in the division, only ahead of Almere City (57) and RKC Waalwijk (58).
However, the hosts have been very impressive at home this term, currently unbeaten in their last five matches at Abe Lenstra Stadion, while they have only suffered one defeat at this venue all season.
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Meanwhile, after going three games unbeaten for the first time this season either side of the March international break, Almere City's momentum was brought to a crashing halt last week when they were hammered 5-0 on the road by PSV.
That defeat marked De Zwarte Schapen's joint-second-biggest defeat of the season, with their heaviest loss of the campaign coming against the same opponent, 7-1 back on matchday two.
Still, there are positive signs for the club since the arrival of Jeroen Rijsdijk - in their last nine games, Almere City have conceded four losses, and those were against Feyenoord, Ajax, Twente and PSV, while they took at least a point from the other five matches during that period.
Notably, a positive result could be crucial for the visitors here, as it will help them build up some momentum before entering a run of three consecutive home games - which will likely be season-defining - before their final match of the campaign away to AZ Alkmaar.
Team News
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Heerenveen are expected to be without at least two players due to injury in Pawel Bochniewicz and Jordy de Wijs, neither of whom are expected to return to action before the end of this season.
Jacob Trenskow has now featured off the bench in the last two matches since returning from injury, and he will be hoping to make the starting lineup this week, potentially at the expense of Levi Smans.
Almere City are also likely to be missing at least a couple of players this weekend, with Alex Carbonell and Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp ruled out with a hamstring and head injury, respectively.
Charles-Andreas Brym has been in good form, scoring three goals and providing two assists in his last 10 games since arriving from Sparta Rotterdam in January, and he will almost certainly lead the line for the visitors in this one.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Braude, Kersten, Hopland, Koehlert; Linday, Brouwers; Jahanbakhsh, Trenskow, Sebaoui; Nicolaescu
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Akujobi, Martins, Lawrence, Zagaritis; Hansen, Haye, Receveur, Kadile; Robinet, Brym
We say: Heerenveen 2-1 Almere City
While Almere City have shown signs of improvement over the last few weeks, it is likely too little, too late for them to get to safety, but they are still in with a chance of finishing in the relegation playoffs.
However, the visitors may need to look to their upcoming home run of games to make up ground, as they are set to face a Heerenveen side that is unbeaten in their last five matches at Abe Lenstra Stadion, and we feel the hosts will extend that record with another win this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
