The last quarter-final of the KNVB Beker sees NEC and Go Ahead Eagles face off at Stadion de Goffert on Thursday.
This is the second meeting between the teams in just under two months off the back of a 2-0 victory for the home side in December's league encounter.
Match preview
NEC claimed a second consecutive 2-1 victory in the Dutch Cup as they saw off the threat of Groningen on January 19.
Calvin Verdonk and Mikkel Duelunds scored either side of Michael de Leeuw's equaliser to fire Rogier Meijer's men into the last eight.
However, the Eniesee have failed to win any of the subsequent two league outings since then but still remain ninth in the Eredivisie table, albeit with a couple of teams in the bottom half now bearing down on them.
Their attention now shifts to a last-eight clash against an opposing outfit who have proven to be a tough nut to crack, with the last 14 encounters yielding four wins for either teams and six stalemates.
Having exited the tournament at this stage last time out, Thursday's hosts will be wary of suffering the same fate once again come the full-time whistle.
Like NEC, Go Ahead Eagles are yet to come out on top in any of the following two league games since their last cup involvement which was a 1-0 triumph over Heerenveen.
Kees van Wonderen's men suffered a 2-1 defeat in their most recent outing versus Groningen on Sunday with Jorgen Strand Larsen stealing the show at the Euroborg.
The Pride of the Ijsel Kowet have struggled offensively of late, finding the back of the net just four times in their last seven matches across all competitions.
With a clash versus AZ Alkmaar to follow this weekend, Thursday's visitors will be looking to secure a morale-boosting victory heading into such a tough assignment.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- D
- L
Team News
NEC's Jordy Bruijn has scored in the last two editions of the fixture and will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Rens van Eijden and Mathias de Wolf will play no part in this one as they remain sidelined with knee injuries.
The home side are also missing the services of defender Ivan Marquez who continues to serve a suspension.
Sam Crowther is his side's only guaranteed absentee for the contest with the 21-year-old still yet to feature this term due to a heart problem.
Giannis-Foivos Botos came off the bench to grab a goal last time out which could see him rewarded with a place in the starting lineup this time.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Verdonk, Guth, Odenthal; El Karouani, Schone, Bruijn, Van Rooy; Vet, Tavsan, Mattsson
Go Ahead Eagles possible starting lineup:
Noppert; Deijl, Idzes, Kramer, Kuipers; Lucassen, Rommens, Brouwers; Botos, Cordoba, Lidberg
We say: NEC 2-1 Go Ahead Eagles
This is one of those ties could either way, as there is little to choose between the sides. That said, we are backing the home side to narrowly edge out their visitors and reach the semi-finals.
Top tip
Adepoju Marvellous
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 43.71%. A win for Go Ahead Eagles had a probability of 31.04% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.06%) and 2-0 (7.32%). The likeliest Go Ahead Eagles win was 0-1 (7.89%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.95%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 4.9% likelihood.
