Two sides battling it out near the bottom of the Eredivisie table in the early stages of the season meet in Leeuwarden on Saturday night, when Cambuur host Vitesse.

Vitesse have underperformed dramatically in the first two months of the season, currently sitting in the relegation playoff position after nine matches, three points adrift of safety, and the arrival of Phillip Cocu as manager has not yet paid off in his opening two games in charge.

Match preview

Vitesse were just one game away from qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League last season, but defeat in the second leg of their playoff against AZ Alkmaar meant they just missed out at the final hurdle.

However, after losing some instrumental players, such as 19-goal Lois Openda and Jacob Rasmussen, who returned to their parent clubs, and Riechedly Bazoer to AZ Alkmaar, Vitesse made a woeful start, and sit level on points with Emmen and Volendam who occupy the two automatic relegation spots.

Some of the new recruits have just not made the desired impact, as Kacper Kozlowski and Ferro, who came in from Brighton & Hove Albion and Benfica respectively, have been in and out of the side, and former Ajax defender Mitchell Dijks has yet to kick a ball for the club since arriving from Bologna.

Only Volendam have conceded more goals and only Emmen have scored fewer than the side from Arnhem, and a lack of goals paired with a leaky defence is a recipe for disaster, and some of the results on the field have shown that.

Losing to fellow strugglers Fortuna Sittard last time out was a tough one to take, perhaps even more so than their heavy defeats to Twente, Heerenveen and Feyenoord which preceded it.

A win here, followed up by another at home to Emmen will be critical for Vitesse's new coach Cocu, who has lost his first two matches since being hired over the international break.

Cambuur themselves made a really poor start to the season and were bottom going into the international break with just four points on the board after seven games.

Defeats in all three of their home games up to that point was a glaring concern, but when PSV Eindhoven showed up to the Cambuur Stadion, Henk de Jong's side blew them away, winning convincingly by three goals to nil to stun everyone in Dutch football.

That win ended a four-game losing run which included some demoralising defeats, including a 4-0 defeat to Ajax, and a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Waalwijk.

A draw with Go Ahead Eagles last time out means they now sit three points clear of the sides in the drop zone with three home games on the spin to come.

However, like with Vitesse, goals and wins are a big problem for Cambuur, as they have scored just eight all season, and have blanked in six of their nine Eredivisie games.

Only Mees Hoedemakers has scored more than one goal this season, and his two strikes both came late on in a 4-1 win at Fortuna Sittard back in August.

The lack of wins is even more concerning too, as De Jong's side have won just three of their last 19 league matches, stretching back to the end of last season in which they surrendered a spot in the playoffs following a dreadful finish to the season.

Team News

The aforementioned Dijks will remain on the sidelines for Vitesse as he continues to recover from a knee problem, but German attacker Markus Schubert could return and play for the first time since the final match of the 2021-22 regular season.

Manager Cocu did not tinker with the starting lineup much in his first game in charge, but following another poor result, he made four changes for the tie with Fortuna Sittard, although again, to no effect.

A change of system was also implemented as Vitesse moved away from their usual five-at-the-back formation to go with four defenders instead, with a new centre-back pairing of Ferro and Tomas Hajek.

Ryan Flamingo was also moved into midfield but only lasted an hour, so Cocu has more decisions to make about his selections and his tactical approach going into this one.

Maxim Gullit, who has played just one minute of league football since mid-January, will remain out for Cambuur with a serious knee injury.

However, Robin Maulun, a player who has been a regular over the last four seasons, could make his long-awaited return from a thigh injury here to make just a third appearance of the season.

Following the shock win over PSV, it was unsurprising that De Jong picked an unchanged side for their fixture with Go Ahead Eagles last week, and after their defensively resolute performance in that 0-0 draw, the manager could opt to pick the same XI again.

Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Virginia; Schmidt, Tol, Bergsma, Van Wermeskerken; Van der Water, Van Kaam, Jacobs, Paulissen, Balk; Boere

Vitesse possible starting lineup:
Scherpen; Arcus, Cornelisse, Meulensteen, Wittek; Tronstad, Bero, Kozlowski, Vidovic, Baden Frederiksen; Bialek

We say: Cambuur 1-0 Vitesse

These two sides are among the lowest scorers in the division, so one goal either way could be enough to decide this tight-looking encounter.

However, Cocu's arrival has not had the desired 'manager bounce' the Vitesse hierarchy may have been looking for, as he remains pointless from his opening two matches in charge, and Cambuur will be more confident given their recent upturn in results.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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