Ajax and Groningen get round 28 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season underway with a meeting at the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion on Saturday.
The home side are looking to make it three wins on the spin, while their visitors seek to go one better and make it four consecutive league victories.
Match preview
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Ajax came out on top in a thrilling 3-2 contest against Feyenoord at the Johan Cruyff ArenA two Sundays ago.
Luis Sinisterra and Guus Til found the back of the net either side of Sebastien Haller's equaliser to leave Erik ten Hag's men trailing at the interval, before second-half strikes from Dusan Tadic and Antony turned the game on its head.
The defending champions remain two points clear of PSV Eindhoven at the top of the league standings in what is shaping up to be an enthralling race for the title.
Next up for De Godenzonen is a trip to an opposing ground where they have lost on each of the last two visits, with their last victory coming back in 2019.
However, Ajax strolled to a 3-0 triumph in September's reverse fixture and will be confident of completing a league double this weekend.
Groningen saw off the threat of FC Utrecht in a routine 3-1 win at the Stadion Galgenwaard on March 20 to go into the international break with the wind in their sails.
Mo El Hankouri and Michael de Leeuw put Danny Buijs's men in cruise control with first-half strikes but Bart Ramselaar got his side back in the game shortly after the break, only for Jorgen Strand Larsen to put the result beyond doubt in the penultimate minute of normal time.
The Pride of the North are eighth in the Eredivisie table, four points adrift of the last Conference League playoff spot with seven rounds of matches left to play.
Saturday's hosts have conceded the third-fewest goals in home games so far, and that defensive solidity will need to come to the fore against an opposing outfit renowned for their attacking ruthlessness.
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Team News
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Antony received his marching orders a few minutes after scoring the winner against Feyenoord, and the Brazilian is suspended for Saturday's contest.
Remko Pasveer and Maarten Stekelenburg are sidelined through finger and hip injuries respectively, meaning that Andre Onana will continue between the sticks.
Sean Klaiber is currently nursing a long-term knee injury, and the defender is still a fair way off making his return to action.
Groningen's Radinio Balker and Jan Hoekstra will both miss Saturday's game with the former yet to feature this season due to a knee problem.
Besides that, this weekend's hosts have no fresh injury or suspension concerns, and we expect Buijs to name an unchanged XI from last time out.
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Leeuwenburgh; Meijer, Van Hintum, Te Wierik, Dankerlui; Duarte, Kasanwirjo, De Leeuw; El Hankouri, Suslov, Strand Larsen
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Onana; Blind, Martinez, Timber, Mazraoui; Alvarez, Gravenberch; Tadic, Berghuis, Kudus; Haller
We say: Groningen 1-3 Ajax
With an opportunity to temporarily open up a five-point gap at the top of the standings, Ajax have enough incentive to go out with all guns blazing. We fancy them to get the job done at the end of the 90 minutes.
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 Ajax win with a probability of 68.45%. A draw had a probability of 19.1% and a win for Groningen had a probability of 12.45%.
The most likely scoreline for an Ajax win was 0-2 with a probability of 12.43%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (11.73%) and 1-2 (9.63%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.09%), while for a Groningen win it was 1-0 (4.29%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 6.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 1-3 win for Ajax in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Ajax.
