Two teams in dire need of a win go head to head in round 21 of the 2022-23 Eredivisie season on Saturday evening, as NEC play host to Cambuur at Goffertstadion.
The home side are looking to end a run of four matches without a victory, while their visitors make the trip currently on a run of one triumph in 14 games.
Match preview
NEC Nijmegen crashed out of the KNVB Beker at the hands of Feyenoord following a 5-3 defeat on penalties when the sides faced off at De Kuip on Wednesday.
Despite going into the half-time break with a two-goal lead, Rogier Meijer's men were on the brink of elimination in extra time before Jordy Bruijn netted a late leveller to send the game into spot kicks, where Ilias Bronkhorst suffered the agony of missing the decisive kick.
Prior to that, the Eniesee fell to a 1-0 loss against Go Ahead Eagles and remain 10th in the Eredivisie table, albeit just three points off the top half.
Coming up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who have lost each of the most recent three meetings between the teams since going unbeaten in the eight clashes prior to that.
Having not tasted defeat on home turf in their last 10 matches on home turf leading up to Saturday's contest, the hosts have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack in front of their fans.
Cambuur were left red-faced after being on the receiving end of a 5-0 thrashing against defending champions Ajax in Sunday's clash at the Cambuur Stadion.
First-half goals from Dusan Tadic and Steven Berghuis left Sjors Ultee's men with a mountain to climb, after which second-half goals from Berghuis and a Brian Brobbey brace sealed the deal.
With 12 points picked up from their 20 league outings, the Yellow-Blues remain rooted to the bottom of the standings and are now five points shy of safety.
Off the back of a first away win in six matches last time out, Saturday's visitors now go in search of back to back wins away from home for the first time since 2021.
Team News
Off the back of his incredible display in midweek where he made a whopping 23 saves, Mattijs Branderhorst could retain his place between the sticks having not made back to back starts since August.
Jordy Bruijn came off the bench in the aforementioned game to score twice, and the Dutchman will be pushing for a place in the lineup for this one.
Twenty-year-old Mathias de Wolf remains out of contention for NEC due to a muscle injury which has seen him fail to feature since the early knockings of last season.
Cambuur's Maxim Gullit is currently battling with a long-term knee injury and the defender will not play any part in this weekend's contest.
Jamie Jacobs and Calvin Mac-Intosch are also unavailable for the away side as they continue to nurse hamstring and ankle injuries respectively.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Verdonk, Kramer, Marquez, Van Rooy; El Karouani, Bruijn, Proper, Tannane, Tavsan; Rosendo
Cambuur possible starting lineup:
Ruiter; Schmidt, Bergsma, Smand, Bangura; Hoedemakers, Van Kaam, Paulissen; Breij, Uldrikis, Van der Water
We say: NEC 1-0 Cambuur
With both teams currently on a poor run of results heading into this one, we are anticipating a nervy and cagey contest. That said, we can also see the hosts narrowly edging out their visitors to get the job done come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
