Off the back of yet another stalemate last time out, NEC prepare to take on newly-promoted SBV Excelsior at the Goffertstadion on Saturday.
On the other hand, the away side make the journey to Nijmegen aiming to avoid losing three consecutive matches for the second time already this term.
Match preview
NEC had to make do with a share of the spoils for the sixth game running following an impressive 1-1 draw against Feyenoord on Sunday.
Rogier Meijer's men went behind to Quinten Timber's opener midway through the first half before drawing level through Ivan Marquez 14 minutes later.
Despite losing just one game in the current campaign, The Eniesee are only 10th in the Eredivisie table with nine points from their eight matches to date.
Their next task sees them face off against an opposing outfit who have lost just one of the last eight meetings between the teams since 2018.
Having scored the joint second-fewest number of goals on home turf so far, Saturday's hosts will need to up the ante at the attacking end of the pitch as they go in search of a first win in seven weeks.
Excelsior were beaten 1-0 for a second game in a row as they just came up short in Sunday's encounter against FC Utrecht at Van Donge & De Roo Stadion.
Marinus Dijkhuizen's men conceded a first-half strike to Sander van de Streek just past the half-hour mark and that was enough to decide the clash in Rotterdam.
Consequently, The Kralingers have dropped down to 11th in the league standings, albeit only just one point outside a place in the top half.
With a daunting task against defending champions Ajax to follow this weekend's involvement, the away side go in search of a morale-boosting win ahead of what is set to be their biggest test of the season.
Team News
Mathias De Wolf has not featured since the second week of April due to a muscle problem which is set to keep the 20-year-old out of Saturday's clash.
Having both missed each of NEC Nijmegen's last three matches, the duo of Jordy Bruijn and Joris Kramer are major injury doubts for this one.
Meanwhile, Philippe Sandler continues his spell on the treatment table due to an ankle injury, and the 25-year-old is also ruled out for the hosts.
Excelsior's Nikolas Agrafiotis is ruled out once again due to a muscle injury which has seen him sit out each of the last 13 matches.
With three direct goal contributions in his most recent four matches on enemy territory, Julian Baas will be aiming to deliver the goods for the visitors.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; Van Rooy, Marquez, Verdonk, El Karouani; Proper, Schone; Tavsan, Tannane, Mattsson; Dimata
SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:
Van Gassel; Tjoe, Seymor, El Yaakoubi, Horemans; Baas, Ayoub; Azarkan, Goudmijn, Driouech; Van Duinen
We say: NEC 2-1 SBV Excelsior
With the teams neck and neck in the standings, we are anticipating a fairly even contest with chances at both ends. We can also see NEC just about managing to pip their visitors to all three points at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
