Looking to maintain their perfect start to the new Eredivisie season, PSV Eindhoven welcome Groningen to the Philips Stadion on Saturday.
Groningen, on the other hand, are still unbeaten this term and will aim to pick up another feather in the cap against their more illustrious opponents.
Match preview
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PSV Eindhoven eased past newly-promoted Cambuur 4-1 on Saturday to pick up a second consecutive league win of the campaign.
Goals from Davy Propper, Eran Zahavi, Noni Madueke and Olivier Boscagli helped secure a convincing victory for last year's runners-up.
The Rood-witten are one of three teams with an unblemished record after two rounds of matches, signalling their intention to push defending champions Ajax all the way.
However, they were defeated by Portuguese outfit Benfica in the sides' Champions League playoff tie which ended 2-1 on aggregate following a goalless draw in the second leg on Wednesday.
With little time to dwell on that disappointment, Saturday's hosts will be looking to record a seventh win on the bounce against their visitors who last came out on top in this fixture seven years ago.
Groningen were unsuccessful in their quest to make it two wins from as many games following a 0-0 draw versus Utrecht on Saturday.
In a drab affair at the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadium, Danny Buijs's men failed to make the most of their dominance thanks in no small part to their wastefulness in front of goal.
The Green-White Army have now failed to win any of their last five home league games stretching back to February when they defeated Fortuna Sittard.
Saturday's visitors have recorded three away triumphs in that time, but will need to be at their best to stand any chance of getting anything out of this weekend's contest.
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Team News
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Davy Propper was on target in his last league outing, where the midfielder sustained a muscle injury which will keep him out of Saturday's game.
Twenty-year-old Richard Ledezma has not featured since last December due to a knee injury and is unavailable for the hosts.
Ritsu Doan was named on the bench in midweek and the 23-year-old could be handed his first appearance of the season following a busy summer with the Japanese Olympic team.
Groningen will have to cope with the absence of Swedish midfielder Paulos Abraham who remains sidelined with an ankle problem.
Since completing a move from NEC, Radinio Balker is yet to make his debut for the away side owing to a hamstring injury.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Mvogo; Max, Boscagli, Ramalho, Teze; Sangare, Van Ginkel, Gotze; Gakpo, Zahavi, Madueke
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Leeuwenburgh; Te Wierik, Kasanwirjo, Gudmundsson, El Hankouri; Dammers, Matusiwa, El Messaoudi; Ngonge, Strand Larsen, Suslov
We say: PSV Eindhoven 3-1 Groningen
PSV would have been disappointed by failure to progress in Wednesday's qualifier but as with every good team, a response is expected this weekend. While Groningen are certainly no pushovers, we can only see the hosts coming out on top in this one.
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 PSV Eindhoven win with a probability of 68.73%. A draw had a probability of 18.1% and a win for Groningen had a probability of 13.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a PSV Eindhoven win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.71%) and 1-0 (9.41%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.46%), while for a Groningen win it was 1-2 (3.81%). The actual scoreline of 5-2 was predicted with a 0.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that PSV Eindhoven would win this match.
