NEC Nijmegen welcome Almere City to the Goffertstadion in the Eredivisie on Saturday evening.
The two sides are separated by just a point heading into the weekend, and both start in the bottom half.
Match preview
NEC have been one of the more entertaining sides to watch in the Eredivisie, but not in the way their supporters would hope.
Only free-scoring PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord have witnessed more goals in their respective matches in the Eredivisie so far this season, but unfortunately for Nijmegen, too many have gone in at the wrong end.
While Rogier Meijer's side have still shown a cutting edge in attack, especially during 3-0 victories over both RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht here at the Goffertstadion, they have endured some bruising defeats too.
A 4-3 defeat at home to Excelsior was hugely disappointing considering they led twice, while PSV and Vitesse comfortably saw them aside more recently.
Meijer's side may not enter the fixture with much confidence either, considering they have won just one of their last five league outings.
NEC also have an interesting recent past against Almere too, because they have lost their last two home league matches against their upcoming opponents in 2019 and 2020, when the two sides were in the Eerste Divisie.
However, there has been two meetings since, both at Almere's Yanmar Stadion which Nijmegen won very convincingly by four goals to nil, in a relegation playoff and a KNVB Beker tie.
Almere are starting to find their feet in their debut season at this level though, with the international break coming at an unwanted time for the newly-promoted outfit.
Alex Pastoor led his side to back-to-back victories prior to the break, after starting the season with just one point from their opening six games.
Three of those fixtures saw them lose at home to PSV and Twente, as well as at Feyenoord, conceding 14 goals in the process.
However, Almere took their chance when it arrived, winning 2-0 at Utrecht after their hosts had been reduced to 10 men in the second half.
Then, in their final game before the break, Thomas Robinet scored for the second game running to seal a 1-0 win over RKC Waalwijk.
That win moved Almere out of the relegation zone, and sensationally above Ajax, who took their place in the bottom three.
Team News
Nijmegen boss Meijer will hope the international break has provided apt time for plenty of his players to recover from differing injury issues.
Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen is among those currently doubtful, along with defensive duo Youri Baas and Brayann Pereira.
Troyes loanee Alexis Tibidi is also absent with physical discomfort, and he will be joined on the sidelines by Elayis Tavsan.
Almere have a few injury worries of their own, with attacker Faiz Mattoir among those yet to feature this season.
Belgian midfielder Milan Corryn has had a frustrating time of things since joining from Warta Poznan at the start of the year and is set to miss out once more.
After picking up a foot injury in a 2-1 defeat to Zwolle at the start of September, Spaniard Alvaro Pena also remains sidelined for the visitors.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Van Rooij, Sandler, Nuytinck, Verdonk; Proper, Schone, Mattsson; Gonzalez, Dost, Hansen
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Akujobi, Mbe Soh, Van Bruggen, Barbet, Floranus; Koopmeiners, Robinet, Resink; Van La Parra, Kitala
We say: NEC 1-1 Almere City
With two wins, two draws and two defeats in their previous six matches, Nijmegen are a tough side to predict, but there should be goals, even if the two sides are difficult to separate on paper.
Almere produced two mammoth performances to get their first top-flight wins before the international break, and maintaining a position outside of the bottom three will be the aim now.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Andrew Delaney
