Still in search of their first league victory of the season, bottom club Emmen welcome PEC Zwolle to the De Oude Meerdijk on Saturday.

On the other hand, the visitors are going through a mini-dry spell at the moment, having not won any of their last four league games, and picking up only three points from a possible 12.

Match preview

Emmen suffered their fourth league defeat in a row, and their eighth in the last 10 games when they were beaten 1-0 by RKC Waalwijk on Friday.

With each passing week, the chances of them dropping into the second tier of Dutch football keep getting bigger and frankly, it is hard to envisage a turnaround at this point.

Dick Lukkien's men have picked up only six points from their opening 22 league games, but one of them came in December's reverse fixture at the Mac3Park Stadion.

Overall, the hosts have not had the best of this fixture with only two wins from the last 16 meetings dating back to 2008.

Furthermore, they are also yet to win a home game versus Saturday's visitors in that time, and now is as good a time as any to break that particular duck.

Zwolle have been in poor form since the turn of the year, having picked up only one win from their nine league outings so far.

John Stegeman's men began the year in 11th position, but they have since dropped to 13th in the Eredivisie table following a 1-0 loss to Groningen on Saturday.

However, the Blauwvingers are just six points away from the top half as things stand, and they could still end up there if they get their act together once again.

One major department that needs fixing is their defensive doggedness away from home as only three teams in the entire division have let in more goals on the road than Saturday's visitors.

Emmen Eredivisie form: LDLLLL
Emmen form (all competitions): LDLLLL

PEC Zwolle Eredivisie form: LWDDDL

Team News

Caner Cavlan hobbled off due to a knock midway through the second half of Emmen's loss to AZ Alkmaar and as a result, he is ruled out for this match.

Luciano Carty, Lentini Caciano and Marko Kolar will all be absent for the game, but Dick Lukkien could have them back for his side's trip to Utrecht.

Pelle Clement will miss the first of three games following his sending-off against Groningen, while Bram van Polen will be serving the final match of his suspension after he was red carded at Utrecht a few weeks ago.

Kenneth Paal made his return from a knee injury last time out, but he might have to make do with a substitute appearance once again as he works his way back to full fitness.

However, Mike van Duinen and Slobodan Tedic will not be featuring in this one as they continue to deal with ankle and rib injuries respectively.

Emmen possible starting lineup:
Verrips; Araujo, Bakker, Veendorp, Bijl; Bernadou, Vlak, Pena; Ben Moussa, Avdijaj, De Leeuw

PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Zetterer; Nakayama, Lam, Strieder, Wermeskerken; Huiberts, Lam, Reijnders; Pherai, Buitink, Misidjan

We say: Emmen 0-1 PEC Zwolle

Zwolle will back themselves to pick up all three points against a winless Emmen side, whose search for a maiden victory is likely to go on for another week.

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