Round 14 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season commences at Stadion de Goffert on Friday when NEC play host to fellow newcomers Cambuur.
Both side have made positive starts to their top-flight campaigns so far and currently find themselves in the top half of the standings.
Match preview
NEC were involved in a share of the spoils for the second game running following a 1-1 stalemate versus AZ Alkmaar at the AFAS Stadion on Saturday.
Rogier Meijer's men took the lead in the ninth minute through Jordy Bruijn before conceding a late equaliser to Zakaria Aboukhlal.
With 19 points from 13 outings so far, the Eniesee are in eighth place as things stand, just four points off fourth spot.
Next up for them is the challenge of an opposing side who are unbeaten in the last seven meetings between the teams since 2018.
Friday's hosts, who have only recorded eight of their 19 points on home turf, now go in search of back to back home wins for the first time this term.
Cambuur secured a third consecutive league victory by beating FC Utrecht 2-1 at the Cambuur-Stadion on Sunday.
Henk de Jong's men took the lead just shy of the midway point in the first half through Roberts Uldrikis before they were pegged back by Moussa Sylla's leveller, only for Jamie Jacobs to decide the game with a 54th-minute winner.
The Yellow-Blues are two points and one place better off than this weekend's opponents ahead of the clash in Nijmegen.
Friday's visitors have conceded the joint second-most goals on the road this term, which is an area that needs significant improvement going forward.
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Team News
Robin Maulun sat out his side's victory over Utrecht due to a muscle injury and is expected to miss this weekend's game.
The visitors will also have to make do with the absence of Marco Tol, who continues to battle with a knee problem.
NEC will take to the field without the services of veteran defender Rens van Eijden, who has been nursing a knee injury for the past six months.
Mathias De Wolf is also not expected to feature for the home side due to a muscle injury, and he is joined on the sidelines by 19-year-old Joep van der Sluijs.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Barreto, Odenthal, Marquez; Van Rooij, Schone, Bruijn, El Karouani; Tavsan, Akman, Okita
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Stevens; Schmidt, Mac-Intosch, Schouten, Bangura; Hoedemakers, Jacobs, Sambissa, Paulissen, Kallon; Uldrikis
We say: NEC 2-1 Cambuur
While the hosts have not been too impressive on home turf, their visitors have struggled defensively on the road all-season long, and we expect that to continue here. We are also backing a narrow victory for NEC come the full-time whistle.
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 NEC win with a probability of 38.24%. A win for Cambuur had a probability of 36.73% and a draw had a probability of 25%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.47%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.35%) and 2-0 (6.01%). The likeliest Cambuur win was 1-2 (8.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.74%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.8% likelihood.
