Aiming to avoid a fourth straight league defeat, NEC play host to Sparta Rotterdam at the Goffertstadion on Saturday in round 27 of the 2021-22 Eredivisie season.
On the other hand, the away side set out to record back to back victories for the first time this term having returned to winning ways last time out.
Match preview
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Sparta got the better of a struggling Go Ahead Eagles outfit in a narrow 1-0 triumph at the Het Kasteel when the teams went toe to toe on Saturday.
Adil Auassar's opener midway through the second period was enough to secure a much-needed three points for Henk Fraser's men in Rotterdam.
Consequently, De Rood-Witte have moved up to 17th place in the Eredivisie table, ahead of bottom club PEC Zwolle and are now just two adrift of safety with a game in hand.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing side who are yet to win any of the last six editions of this fixture dating back to 2016, managing just two draws in that time.
However, Saturday's visitors currently possess the second-worst record away from home in the entire division, having managed just six points from their 10 games on the road so far.
NEC fell to a 4-3 defeat in a thrilling contest against Groningen at the Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion on Saturday.
Goals from Ali Akman, Lasse Schone and Magnus Mattsson saw Rogier Meijer's men head into the break with a 3-2 advantage before a second half brace from Romano Postema turned the game on its head.
The Eniesee are now 10th in the standings following their most recent loss but still possess a nine-point lead over the bottom three in their first top-flight season for a half a decade.
No team in the entire division has picked up fewer points in front of their fans than this weekend's hosts, who have amassed just 10 of their 31 points on home turf.
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Team News
NEC's Souffian El Karouani was given his marching orders against Groningen and is suspended for this weekend's contest.
Pedro Ruiz and Rens van Eijden are also unavailable for the hosts, as the duo miss out through muscle and knee injuries respectively.
Jordy Bruijn has missed six games on the trot due to a leg injury, but the 25-year-old could make his return to action in this one.
Tom Beugelsdijk was hauled off less than five minutes into Sparta's win over Go Ahead Eagles, making him a doubt for his side's trip to Nijmegen.
Dutch defender Bart Vriends came on for Beugelsdijk in the aforementioned game and is in line to feature on Saturday should his compatriot be deemed unfit to participate.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Marquez, Odenthal, Guth; Schone, Barreto, Van Rooy, Verdonk; Akman, Okita, Tavsan
Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:
Okoye; Vriends, Durmisi, Auassar, Abels; Namli, Van Mullem, De Kamps, Van Crooy; Engels, Dalmau
We say: NEC 1-1 Sparta Rotterdam
There is little to choose between the teams ahead of what is set to be a closely-contested affair, and while we expect goals at both ends, we are backing a share of the spoils with honours split evenly 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 46.38%. A win for Sparta Rotterdam had a probability of 27.65% and a draw had a probability of 26%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.4%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.15%) and 2-0 (8.45%). The likeliest Sparta Rotterdam win was 0-1 (8.33%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.34%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.7% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a draw in this match.
