NEC and PEC Zwolle get matchday two of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season underway with their meeting at the Goffertstadion on Friday.
Having both suffered defeats in their respective opening-day fixtures last time out, the teams will be looking to respond.
Match preview
In their first top-flight game following a five-year absence, NEC were given a baptism of fire as defending champions Ajax ran out 5-0 winners when the sides faced off at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Saturday.
Sebastien Haller and Noussair Mazraoui struck in the opening 10 minutes of the contest to put Rogier Meijer's men two goals behind, and the lead was stretched even further as a result of Bart van Rooij's own goal barely five minutes later, before Dusan Tadic capped off a scintillating first-half performance with two goals.
Unsurprisingly, the Eniesee find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Eredivisie table as things stand and are in need of a mood-changer.
Their record against this weekend's opponents does not make for good reading, as the Nijmegen-based club have lost each of the last three meetings between the teams.
Overall, Friday's hosts have won just one of 11 previous clashes in all competitions dating back to 2013, which came courtesy of a 3-1 victory in a friendly five years ago.
PEC Zwolle suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat in their Eredivisie season-opener against Vitesse at the Mac3Park Stadion on Sunday.
The game was decided in the 20th-minute when debutant Nikolai Baden Frederiksen opened his account for his new employers to put Art Langeler's men to the sword.
The Blauwvingers have now lost three times on the bounce, finding the back of the net on only one occasion in that time.
However, Friday's hosts will fancy themselves to exploit the defensive vulnerability exhibited by their hosts last week and improve their own fortunes in front of goal.
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Team News
Nijmegen's Rens van Eijden is ruled out with a knee problem, and the Dutch defender will sit out a sixth consecutive game.
Magnus Mattsson was hauled off in the first half of the hosts' horror show in Amsterdam last time out, and the 22-year-old is a doubt for Friday's contest.
Sai Van Wermeskerken continues his spell on the sidelines with a knee injury which has seen him not feature for the visitors since mid-February.
As a result, a second consecutive start awaits Mees De Wit, who was recently brought in to provide cover for the aforementioned Van Wermeskerken.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; El Karouani, Odenthal, Marquez, Van Rooij; Schone, Proper, Duelund; Barreto, Bruijn, Okita
PEC Zwolle possible starting lineup:
Lamprou; De Wit, Kersten, Van Polen, Paal; Huiberts, Saymak, Strieder; Kastaneer, Tedic, Clement
We say: NEC 1-1 PEC Zwolle
The sides will be looking to respond following last week's defeat, which should make for an interesting encounter. While we expect goals at both ends, we are also backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
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 48.91%. A win for PEC Zwolle had a probability of 26.75% and a draw had a probability of 24.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.52%) and 2-0 (8.2%). The likeliest PEC Zwolle win was 0-1 (6.95%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.5%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with an 8.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that NEC would win this match.
