Seeking to pick up a fourth consecutive victory across all competitions, NEC welcome Heerenveen to the Goffertstadion in round 12 of the Eredivisie season on Saturday.
On the other hand, the away side make the journey to Nijmegen looking to end a barren run of three league defeats on the bounce.
Match preview
NEC recorded a first home victory since August courtesy of a convincing 3-0 triumph over Groningen on Sunday.
Roger Meijer's men took the lead through Ali Akman before second-half goals from Elayis Tavsan and Jonathan Okita put the result beyond doubt.
Having secured maximum points from their last two league outings, the Eniesee have now moved up to seventh place on the log and continue to excel since their promotion to the top flight.
Next up for them is a clash versus an opposing side who have not won any of the last seven meetings between the teams since a 3-1 victory back in 2013.
With the third-best home defensive record this term, Saturday's hosts will be confident of keeping their visitors at bay this weekend.
Heerenveen were beaten at home for the third game running following a 2-1 defeat versus Vitesse at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Saturday.
Johnny Jansen's men took the lead in the final knockings of the first half thanks to Milan van Ewijk before a Lois Openda brace in the second half turned the game on its head.
With 13 points from 11 outings so far, De Superfriezen are in 12th position at the moment and are in need of a lift following a dry patch.
Saturday's visitors, whose defensive record on the road is only bettered by Ajax's, will hope to use that solidity at the back as the springboard for a positive result in this one.
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Team News
Twenty-one-year old Pedro Ruiz is ruled out of this weekend's contest due to a hamstring injury which has seen his miss the last three matches.
NEC will take to the field without the services of Rens van Eijden, who has been out with a knee problem for the past six months.
Mathias De Wolf is also not expected to feature for the hosts due to a muscle injury, and he is joined on the treatment table by Mikkel Duelund, who is nursing an ankle injury.
Heerenveen's Ibrahim Dresevic was given his marching orders in the defeat to Vitesse and will serve the first of a three-game suspension in this one.
Pawel Bochniewicz is currently unavailable due to a knee injury, while first-choice goalkeeper Erwin Mulder remains sidelined through a finger injury.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Barreto, Odenthal, Marquez; Van Rooij, Schone, Bruijn, El Karouani; Tavsan, Akman, Okita
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Mous; Van Beek, Bakker, Kaib, Van Ewijk; J.Veerman, Halilovic, Kongolo; De Jong, H.Veerman, Musaba
We say: NEC 1-1 Heerenveen
NEC are the more in-form side coming into the game and will back themselves to emerge victorious in this one. Heerenveen, on the other hand, have struggled of late, but we are backing them to claim a hard-fought point.
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 48.57%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for Heerenveen had a probability of 25.36%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.35%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.21%) and 2-1 (9.21%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.34%), while for a Heerenveen win it was 0-1 (8.28%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 12.3% likelihood.
