Parramatta have lost seven straight. Canberra's gunning for 12 consecutive home wins.
Yet Raiders coach David Furner says there's no chance his side will head into Saturday's clash with the NRL cellar dwellers with a sense of complacency.
"The players know the importance of this game," Furner said.
"On the ladder there's a lot of teams on the same points and it's this part of the season that is make or break."
Raiders captain Terry Campese took it one step further and labelled the Canberra Stadium outing as a danger match.
"Parramatta aren't travelling too well but we've got to be focused," he said.
This week could be seen as a good opportunity to improve the 10th placed Raiders' poor for-and-against record.
The Eels are winless on the road this season with an average away losing margin of 25.5 points.
"If we do everything right I'm sure we can score a few points, but the weather is not the best to be throwing the ball around," Campese said.
Despite being out of finals contention, Eels captain Tim Mannah said his side was looking to build on last week's 17-10 loss to Penrith rather than dwell on the seven straight losses.
"It's a good opportunity to derail a few (teams) seasons," Mannah said.
"When they play us we want to make sure they know it's not going to be an easy game."
The game comes attached with several interesting talking points, namely the coaching battle between former Raiders teammates Furner and Ricky Stuart, as well as the clubs' tug-of-war over forward Josh Papalii earlier this year.
Mannah said there was no bad blood with Papalii following the 21-year-old enforcer's decision to renege on his Eels deal to stay in Canberra.
"He's a guy that just wants to do the best he can in his career," Mannah said.
"I'm sure he had his reasons to do what he did."
Furner said ex-Warriors winger Bill Tupou was on standby for Joel Thompson, while prop Brett White could return after being cleared of a fractured eye socket during the week.
Both sides will also be without their own Blues star, Jarryd Hayne nursing a hamstring injury while Blake Ferguson is still being blocked from training with the Raiders by the NRL following his plea of not-guilty to a charge of indecent assault.
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