The Eredivisie's form side AZ Alkmaar will look to extend their eye-catching league run on Sunday, when they travel to take on NEC.
A 13-game unbeaten run has seen the visitors establish themselves in the top four, now just nine points off the summit of the Eredivisie table.
Match preview
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Following their promotion back from the second tier last term, NEC enjoyed a strong first half to the Eredivisie season, establishing themselves in the top half with 25 points from their opening 19 games.
Rogier Meijer's side have since hit a slightly tougher spell, though, earning just a single victory from their last six league outings.
That solitary win came away at Heerenveen, as Elayis Tavsan hit the only goal of the game, before Jonathan Okita salvaged a point with an equaliser in the dying minutes of their 1-1 draw with RKC Waalwijk.
Most recently, Meijer's men were thrashed 4-1 away at Vitesse, despite Mikkel Duelund giving them the lead in the 49th minute, as Alois Oroz netted a brace alongside goals from Danilho Doekhi and Thomas Buitink to send the visitors home empty-handed.
The slight dip in form has seen NEC drop to ninth spot in the Dutch top flight, and, while they are not threatened by the scrap at the bottom of the table, they will be keen to maintain their top-half status with a victory at the weekend.
Their visitors arrive in formidable form, with AZ Alkmaar having gone unbeaten in 13 league outings, and picking up 10 victories from the last 11 of those.
Following consecutive draws, the Kaaskoppen put together an eye-catching six-game winning streak in the top flight before being briefly halted by a goalless stalemate with Cambuur.
That did not damage the fortunes of Pascal Jansen's side, who instantly bounced back with a 2-1 win over title-chasing PSV Eindhoven, and they followed that up with a 4-1 thrashing of Go Ahead Eagles.
The Kaaskoppen now come into Sunday's match having won their last two league games 2-1, firstly seeing off Heracles before Jesper Karlsson netted a brace in a crucial win over third-placed Feyenoord, reducing the gap between Jensen's men and third place to just three points.
Although their most recent fixture ended as a 2-0 defeat to Ajax in the KNVB-Beker semi-final, AZ Alkmaar will hope to continue their strong run of form in the Eredivisie and give their hopes of a high finish another major boost with a victory.
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Team News
NEC will likely be missing Jordy Bruijn and Javier Vet due to injuries, although Lasse Schone will return to contention after serving a suspension.
Elayis Tavsan, Ali Akman and Jonathan Okita could reform a dangerous front line, having each netted five Eredivisie goals this season.
AZ Alkmaar have no major absentees to note, and Jansen could deploy the same starting XI that beat Feyenoord in their last league game.
Winger Jesper Karlsson and striker Vangelis Pavlidis have both been key men going forward, netting 11 and 10 league goals respectively this campaign.
Elsewhere, Jordy Clasie and Fredrik Midtsjo should again partner up at the base of midfield with key man Dani de Wit set to support the front three.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Rooij, Odenthal, Guth, Marquez; Proper, Elkarouani; Akman, Barreto, Okita; Tavsan
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Sugawara, Beukema, Martins Indi, Wijndal; Midtsjo, Clasie; Aboukhlal, Wit, Karlsson; Pavlidis
We say: NEC 1-2 AZ Alkmaar
While NEC have been impressive this term following a promotion, AZ Alkmaar pose a particularly tough test, and we see the hosts falling short of a result.
Jensen's men have been the form side of the division in recent months, and, after a cup defeat, they will be particularly desperate for another league win to extend their run.
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 AZ Alkmaar win with a probability of 53.41%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for NEC had a probability of 23.09%.
The most likely scoreline for an AZ Alkmaar win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.36%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.78%) and 0-2 (9.11%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.12%), while for a NEC win it was 1-0 (6.33%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 5.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that AZ Alkmaar would win this match.
