Round 32 of the 2023-24 Eredivisie season concludes with a meeting between SBV Excelsior and NEC at Van Donge & De Roo Stadion on Monday evening.
Neither team came away with maximum points from their most respective outings, and they will both be keen to get back to winning ways in this one.
Match preview
SBV Excelsior played out a thrilling 2-2 stalemate against Ajax when the sides faced off at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Wednesday evening.
After going behind to Devyne Rensch's opener just shy of the half-hour mark, Marinus Dijkhuizen's men turned the game on its head thanks to strikes either side of half time from Julian Baas and Lazaros Lamprou before Chuba Akpom levelled matters in the final minute of regulation time.
As a result, De Roodzwarten remain 15th in the Eredivisie table, just one point above the relegation playoff spot heading into the final knockings of the season.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who suffered a 4-3 defeat in a seven-goal thriller in August's reverse fixture.
Having recently ended a six-game winless home run, Monday's hosts now go in search of consecutive wins on their own patch for the first time in over a year.
NEC Nijmegen were on the receiving end of a second straight defeat as they fell to a 3-0 loss against AZ Alkmaar at Stadion de Goffert on Sunday.
Rogier Meijer's men trailed to Dani de Wit's opener before second-half goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Ernest Poku put the result beyond doubt.
With 47 points picked up from 31 matches so far, the Eniesee sit sixth in the standings, two points shy of Ajax in the battle for Europa League qualification.
Ahead of a daunting assignment against Feyenoord six days later, Monday's visitors will be keen to set the tone with a dominant display here.
Team News
Bas Dost is still unavailable for NEC due to a heart problem, and the striker is joined on the sidelines by Yvandro Borges Sanches, who is yet to fully recuperate from a damaged knee.
Kas de Wit also misses out for the away side through injury, while fellow Dutchman Bart van Rooy continues to nurse a muscle problem.
Having come off with an injury scare against AZ Alkmaar last time out, Philippe Sandler remains a major doubt, with Mathias Ross waiting in the wings for a place in the XI.
Excelsior defender Siebe Horemans picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign and will serve a one-game suspension in this one as a result.
Lennard Hartjes and Kik Pierie are unavailable for the hosts through knee and foot injuries respectively, but the latter is not far off a return to action.
SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:
Van Gassel; Zagre, El Yaakoubi, Widell, Benita; Baas, Goudmijn; Lamprou, Sandra, Fernandes; Duijvestijn
NEC possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; Pereira, Ross, Nuytinck, Verdonk; Hoedemakers, Proper; Gonzalez, Chery, Sano; Ogawa
We say: SBV Excelsior 1-1 NEC
Clean sheets have been hard to come by for both teams of late, and we are anticipating an open contest here. That said, we are also backing a share of the spoils with honours even come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
