Heracles will be hoping to continue their good form into the New Year when they welcome Vitesse on Saturday, having picked up consecutive league wins against both Groningen and Heerenveen in their last two games.
Meanwhile, Vitesse should be keen to bounce back from their 3-1 loss against AZ Alkmaar two weeks ago, suffering just their third defeat this season.
Match preview
Heracles will be looking for their third win on the bounce this Saturday, picking up a promising 1-0 win against Groningen in their latest league fixture.
During the match, Adrian Szoke got the only goal of the game - netting in the final 10 minutes as Frank Wormuth's men managed to keep a clean sheet against an in-form Groningen.
Their recent results mean they currently sit 12th in the Eredivisie table, just one point behind PEC Zwolle.
However, their home form has been pretty disappointing, with the hosts conjuring up just one league win across their previous five home games - a 4-1 triumph against Utrecht back in November.
On the other hand, Vitesse have had a superb 2020-21 season thus far, picking up nine victories across the term. This means they currently sit in fourth place in the table, currently on level points with Feyenoord.
Despite their promising campaign, they did suffer a loss against AZ last time out, with their opponents managing to net three past them in their final game of 2020.
In fact, Thomas Letsch's men have failed to secure a single win in their previous four matches, with the German manager eager to get his side back to winning ways this weekend.
Their away form, in particular, has been worrying, having picked up just one point from their last nine available.
The last time these two teams met was back in October last year, when Vitesse claimed a comfortable 3-0 victory over their opponents.
Heracles Eredivisie form: WWLDLL
Vitesse Eredivisie form: LWDLWD
Vitesse form (all competitions): LWWDLW
Team News
Heracles only have one injury concern as they prepare for Saturday's clash against Vitesse, with Navajo Bakboord currently out with a knee problem.
Therefore, Wormuth could field a similar side to the one that picked up a win against Groningen in their previous fixture.
Szoke may have done enough to replace Sinan Bakis up front, with the forward scoring the only goal in their latest triumph.
Meanwhile, Vitesse supporters will be pleased to know that they have no injuries heading into this game, and Letsch should have a fully fit squad to choose from.
The German is expected to keep both Lois Openda and Oussama Darfalou in the starting XI, with both strikers scoring in their last two games.
Heracles possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Breukers, Propper, Knoester, Quagliata; Schoofs, Vloet, Kiomourtzoglou; Van der Water, Szoke, Burgzorg
Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Pasveer; Dasa, Doekhi, Bazoer, Rasmussen, Wittek; Bero, Tannane, Tronstad; Openda, Darfalou
We say: Heracles 1-2 Vitesse
Although Vitesse have been in poor form recently, they should have enough quality to pick up a win on Saturday. Heracles have picked up some positive results lately, but we expect them to struggle against a tough Vitesse side.
Top betting 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 Vitesse win with a probability of 38.57%. A win for Heracles had a probability of 36.74% and a draw had a probability of 24.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Vitesse win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.01%) and 0-2 (5.92%). The likeliest Heracles win was 2-1 (8.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.51%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 5.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Vitesse would win this match.
