FC Utrecht will be aiming to keep their unbeaten record in the 2024-25 Eredivisie season intact when they make the trip to Rat Verlegh Stadion to face NAC Breda on Saturday night.
The newly-promoted hosts are currently in 10th place with three points earned after the first two gameweeks of the season, while the visitors are in eighth place with four points.
Match preview
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Despite finishing down in eighth place in the Eerste Divisie, NAC Breda earned promotion back to the Eredivisie after a five-year hiatus last season thanks to a remarkable against-the-odds playoff run.
That was also the first time since the 2018-19 first division season that a side finishing in eighth place managed to earn promotion to the top flight. RKC Waalwijk were the last side to achieve the remarkable feat.
The Yellow Army will now look to solidify themselves as a top-flight team and will gain some confidence in doing so, having survived their first season back in the Eredivisie in four of their last five promotion campaigns.
Carl Hoefkens, who replaced Jean-Paul van Gastel at the start of last month, began his tenure with a 4-1 loss to Groningen but bounced back in fine style, beating Dutch giants Ajax 2-1 on the road last weekend thanks to a stoppage-time winner by Jan van den Bergh.
While the hosts enter this one as marginal underdogs, they did win the last match between these sides 3-2 when they last met in the KNVB Cup back in 2021.
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Meanwhile, Utrecht will be hoping to close the gap to the teams in the European places this season, having ended each of their last three top-flight campaigns in seventh place.
Last season, Utreg posted a record of 13 wins, 11 draws and 10 defeats, but they will need to improve their attacking output if they are to challenge the teams above them, with their 49-goal tally from last term ranking as the second-lowest of the sides in the top half of the table.
So far this season, things have gone fairly well for Ron Jans's side, as they kicked off the new campaign with a solid 1-0 win over PEC Zwolle and were unlucky to have only earned a point away to Heerenveen last weekend.
Ole Romeny, who missed out last season after arriving from Emmen, has caught the eye for Domstedelingen over the first two matches, scoring the side's both goals of the new campaign so far, and he will be determined to keep up his good form.
Over the course of last season, Utrecht earned 21 points on the road with a record of five wins, six draws and six losses, but only managed to win one of their final five away matches.
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Team News
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NAC will have to make do without the services of four players for this match, including long-term absentee Clint Leemans, who missed a large part of last season with a tendon injury and is still some way from a return.
Fredrik Oldrup Jensen picked up a knock on the opening weekend and is flagged as a doubt, while Leo Sauer and Aime Omgba are ruled out until the end of the month due to injury.
For Utrecht, second-choice goalkeeper Kevin Gadellaa is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after undergoing surgery to his knee, which will see Tom de Graaff provide backup to Vasilios Barkas in goal.
Niklas Vesterlund missed the end of last season with a knee injury and has yet to return to full training, while Yoann Cathline is flagged as a doubt owing to a strained hamstring.
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Bielica; Valerius, Greiml, Van den Bergh, Kemper; Balard, Staring, Garbett, Janosek, Lucassen; Omarsson
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Horemans, Viergever, Van der Hoorn, El Karouani; Engwanda, Iqbal; Romeny, Toornstra, Aaronson; Min
We say: NAC Breda 1-1 FC Utrecht
NAC are the clear underdogs in this match, as they are likely to be in most matches during the early season, but they have looked more than handy so far and their win over Ajax will certainly have given them a massive boost of confidence. We feel the hosts will be able to take a share of the spoils in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
