Where Spain has ‘El Clásico’ with Real Madrid and Barcelona facing off, the similarly named ‘De Klassieker’ in the Netherlands is between Ajax and Feyenoord. A game between two of the biggest Dutch clubs, stemming from the biggest two cities of the country in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Feyenoord’s last title came in 2016-17, but this could be their year – they are currently three points ahead of Ajax in the Eredivisie table with 11 games remaining.

In this fixture on Sunday, Ajax (W6 D1 currently) are aiming to go unbeaten in eight consecutive meetings with Feyenoord in all competitions for just the fourth time in their club history (previously 15 in 2006-2011, 11 in 1995-1999 and eight in 1987-1991).

Coming into Feyenoord’s home meeting with Ajax on 22 January, the reigning champions were in fourth position behind AZ, PSV and five points behind the league-leaders from Rotterdam.

The two rivals played out a 1-1 draw at De Kuip, with Davy Klassen rescuing a point for Ajax with 19 minutes remaining following Igor Paixão 34th-minute opener. This result saw Ajax draw a sixth successive league game – a run which they later extended to seven in a row with their 1-1 draw at home to Volendam four days later. It was far from a vintage Feyenoord performance, despite winning a point against their title rivals. Arne Slot’s side posted an expected goals total of just 0.38 – their lowest xG tally in an Eredivisie game since 27 October 2017 (also against Ajax), while their passing accuracy of 68.5% was their lowest in a home match at De Kuip since that same match in October 2017.

About the hosts, this is a great time for Ajax to play in a potential title decider. They are currently on a seven-game winning streak in the Eredivisie, last going on a longer run back in December 2019 (nine wins in a row). Are in great form with very solid performaces lately. Ajax’s only home defeat across their last 20 league games at the Johan Cruyff Arena came on 6 November in a 2-1 loss to PSV (W15 D4).

The reigning champions have only failed to score in one of their last 47 league games – this in a 0-0 draw with FC Twente on 14 January, which was also the only game they didn’t score in their last 22 at home in the competition. Feyenoord’s current scoring run is at 23 games, last failing to find the net in a 0-0 draw at sc Heerenveen in their second game of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season (13 August).

In order to win a league title, it’s extremely helpful to be hard to beat and Feyenoord are certainly that. They have lost just once in the Eredivisie so far this season, with their current unbeaten run standing at 18 games (W12 D6 L0), last tasting defeat in a league match on 18 September, where they were defeated 4-3 at PSV Eindhoven. This is their best unbeaten league run since a sequence of 26 games between November 2019 and December 2020.

Arguably the biggest strength of Feyenoord’s class of 2022-23 is that they don’t accept defeat. The Eredivisie comeback kings have won a league-high 21 points from losing positions – which is the joint-most across the top 10 ranked European leagues this season alongside Scottish team Rangers. They have only won more in an Eredivisie season back in 2021-22 (24) and 1998-99 (22).

They have spent 416 minutes and 44 seconds of matches in a losing position this season, which is 135 minutes longer than Ajax (281:09). The fact that Ajax have already dropped 11 points from winning positions in 2022-23 – more than in their last two seasons combined (eight) – will add to their worries ahead of Sunday’s match.

Home advantage is obviously a big factor here, with Feyenoord having a terrible run in Amsterdam against the record champions, winning none of their last 16 league visits there (14 defeats). The result of this game will have huge ramifications on the title race. Should Ajax win, they’ll be level on points with Feyenoord at the top with 10 games to play. If Feyenoord win, they’ll go six points clear of their rivals.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

西班牙的“El Clásico”是皇马和巴塞罗那的对决，而荷兰的“De Klassieker”则是阿贾克斯和费耶诺德的对决。一场荷兰最大的两家俱乐部之间的比赛，起源于该国最大的两个城市阿姆斯特丹和鹿特丹。

费耶诺德上一次夺冠是在2016-17赛季，但今年可能是他们的一年——他们目前在还剩11场比赛的情况下领先阿贾克斯3分。

在周日的这场比赛中，阿贾克斯(目前是W6 D1)的目标是在俱乐部历史上第四次在各项赛事中连续8次与费耶诺德交手保持不败(之前是2006-2011年15次，1995-1999年11次和1987-1991年8次)。

在1月22日费耶诺德主场对阵阿贾克斯的比赛中，卫冕冠军排在阿斯利康和埃因霍温之后，落后联赛领头羊鹿特丹5分。

两支死敌在德库伊普球场1-1战平，在伊戈尔Paixão第34分钟的首开纪录后，戴维·克拉森在比赛还剩19分钟时为阿贾克斯挽回一分。这一结果使得阿贾克斯连续六场联赛被逼平——四天后，他们在主场1-1战平了沃伦丹，连续七场比赛被逼平。这与费耶诺德的表现相差甚远，尽管他们战胜了他们的冠军竞争对手。阿恩·斯Slot的球队预期总进球数只有0.38个，这是他们自2017年10月27日(也是对阵阿贾克斯)以来在荷甲比赛中的最低xG进球数，而他们68.5%的传球准确率是他们自2017年10月同一场比赛以来在德库伊普主场比赛中的最低。

关于东道主，这是阿贾克斯参加潜在冠军决胜局的绝佳时机。他们目前在荷甲联赛中取得了七连胜，上一次七连胜还要追溯到2019年12月(九连胜)。他们最近状态很好，表现非常稳定。阿贾克斯在克鲁伊夫球场最近20场联赛中唯一的主场失利是11月6日2-1输给埃因霍温(W15 D4)。

卫冕冠军在过去47场联赛中只有一场没有进球——1月14日0-0战平特温特，这也是他们最近22场主场比赛中唯一一场没有进球。费耶诺德目前的进球记录是23场，上一次未能进球是在2022-23赛季的第二场比赛(8月13日)0-0逼平海伦芬的比赛中。

为了赢得联赛冠军，很难被击败是非常有帮助的，费耶诺德当然就是这样。本赛季到目前为止，他们在荷甲联赛中只输了一场，目前他们的不败战绩为18场(W12 D6 L0)，上一次尝试失败是在9月18日的联赛中，他们4-3被埃因霍温击败。这是他们自2019年11月至2020年12月连续26场比赛以来最好的联赛不败。

可以说，费耶诺德2022-23届学生最大的优点是他们不接受失败。荷甲回归之王在失分的情况下获得了联赛最高的21分，这是本赛季排名前十的欧洲联赛中与苏格兰流浪者队并列最多的分数。他们只有在2021-22赛季(24胜)和1998-99赛季(22胜)在荷甲联赛中赢过。

他们在本赛季的比赛中有416分44秒处于输球状态，比阿贾克斯(281:09)多了135分钟。事实上，阿贾克斯在2022-23赛季已经从积分榜上下降了11分——比他们过去两个赛季的总和(8分)还要多——这将在周日的比赛前增加他们的担忧。

主场优势显然是这里的一个重要因素，费耶诺德在阿姆斯特丹面对创纪录冠军的表现很糟糕，过去16次联赛访问那里(14场失利)一场未赢。这场比赛的结果将对冠军争夺产生巨大的影响。如果阿贾克斯赢了，他们将在剩下的10场比赛中与榜首的费耶诺德同分。如果费耶诺德获胜，他们将领先对手6分。