Gameweek 12 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season commences at the Grolsch Veste Stadium on Friday when FC Twente play host to Heracles.
The hosts suffered a heavy defeat versus PSV Eindhoven last time out, while their visitors picked up a very impressive point versus reigning champions Ajax.
Match preview
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Twente were left red-faced at the Philips Stadion as PSV ran out 5-2 winners in a largely one-sided affair on Saturday.
Yorbe Vertessen and Carlos Vinicius scored a brace apiece for last season's runners-up and Eran Zahavi was also on target to render goals from Michel Vlap and Ramiz Zerrouki inconsequential.
Winless in four league outings, the Tukkers have slipped into the bottom half of the Eredivisie table as a result and will now seek to bounce back in the coming weeks.
Awaiting Ron Jans's men next is the challenge of an opposing side who they have beaten on only one occasion in the last five meetings between the teams.
With the last international break of the year to follow, Friday's hosts will be looking to pick up a morale-boosting victory before the two-week hiatus.
Heracles became just the third team to deny Ajax all three points this term following a goalless stalemate at the Erve Asito on Saturday.
Despite being under the cosh for the majority of the contest, Frank Wormuth's men held firm and were perhaps a tad unlucky not to have stolen a victory late on.
Picking up just one of the last nine points available, the Heraclieden remain just two points outside the drop zone and are in need of an upturn in form.
Friday's visitors, who are one of five sides yet to record an away victory this term, must get going on the road to avoid being drawn into a relegation scrap.
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Team News
Once again, Twente will be without the services of Vaclav Cerny and Jody Lukoki as they remain sidelined with knee injuries.
Veteran defender Wout Brama has sat out the last four games through a muscle injury, while Kik Pierie is yet to fully recuperate from a back problem.
Heracles will have to make do with the absence of Kasper Jakobsen, who has not featured in any of the last eight matches due to a knee problem.
Twenty-three-year-old Adrian Szoke is also expected to play no part as he is set to miss a fifth consecutive game due to illness.
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Smal, Hilgers, Propper, Plezueguelo; Sadilek, Zerrouki, Vlap; Rots, Van Wolfswinkel, Misidjan
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Quagliata, Knoester, Rente, Fadiga; De La Torre, Schoofs, Vloet; Basacikoglu, Burgzorg, Sierhuis
We say: FC Twente 2-1 Heracles
Heracles have been dire on their travels so far and it is hard to see that changing in this one. We are backing the home side to claim all three points in what should be a scintillating encounter.
Top 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 FC Twente win with a probability of 41.8%. A win for Heracles had a probability of 32.22% and a draw had a probability of 26%.
The most likely scoreline for a FC Twente win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.8%) and 2-0 (7.22%). The likeliest Heracles win was 0-1 (8.67%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.35%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for FC Twente in this match.
