Quickly running out of time to escape the bottom two of the Eredivisie table, Almere City will welcome NAC Breda to the Yanmar Stadion on Friday.
The hosts remain rooted to the foot of the division after three straight defeats, while their visitors have dropped to 11th spot in the midst of their own winless run.
Match preview
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Almere City return to action on Friday aiming to end a losing run and keep any Eredivisie survival hopes alive.
After finishing 13th in their first-ever top-flight campaign last time around, De Zwarte Schapen have endured a tough campaign thus far, sitting in the bottom two for almost the entirety having earned just 14 points from their 25 games.
Of their three league victories, their most recent and first under the management of Jeroen Rijsdijk, who took charge in early January, came away at Utrecht last month, before they were held to a 2-2 draw away at NEC by an injury-time leveller.
Rijsdijk's men have failed to bounce back since and head into Friday's contest on the back of three straight defeats, firstly falling to Feyenoord and leaders Ajax before visiting fourth-placed Twente on Sunday and succumbing to a 1-0 loss as Sem Steijn netted the only goal in the 19th minute.
Now sitting 10 points adrift of the relegation playoff place and automatic safety with just nine games left to play, having conceded a league-joint-high tally of 49 goals and only scored a league-low tally of 15, Almere City know that any survival hopes are reliant on building a winning run in the coming weeks, starting at home on Friday.
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Their visitors head to the Yanmar Stadion hoping to end their own tough run, having dropped into the bottom half of the Dutch top flight in recent weeks.
On their return to the Eredivisie for the first time since 2019, NAC Breda enjoyed a strong first half to the campaign, sitting ninth after 19 matches with 25 points on the board.
The Parel van het Zuiden have since endured a six-match winless run, though, including defeats to PSV Eindhoven, RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht alongside two draws.
Carl Hoefkens's side then hosted relegation-threatened Sparta Rotterdam on Friday and came from behind to take a share of the spoils, as Leo Sauer levelled the scores at a goal apiece on the hour mark after Carel Eiting's early opener.
Having now dropped to 11th in the midst of their tough run, albeit only trailing ninth-placed by Heerenveen by two points, NAC Breda will aim to make a return to winning ways on Friday with a chance to return to the top half.
Team News
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Almere City are set to remain without important midfielder Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp, who is confined to the treatment room alongside Alex Carbonell.
In his expected absence, Anas Tahiri should continue in the engine room with Adi Nalic and Thomas Robinet taking up more advanced roles.
They will hope to again join wingers Junior Kadile and Kornelius Hansen in support of striker Charles-Andreas Brym, with no player in the squad having managed more than two goals so far this season.
NAC Breda head to the Yanmar Stadion without defender Leo Greiml, who is suspended after being sent off in last week's draw with Sparta Rotterdam.
They are also impacted by several injuries, with Lars Mol, Cherrion Valerius, Raul Paula and Matthew Garbett remaining sidelined.
In Greiml's absence, Terence Kongolo will come in to join Jan Van den Bergh in the middle of a back four, while Elias Mar Omarsson will hope to return and lead the attack from the outset having netted a team-high tally of seven goals so far this season.
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Da Graca, Lawrence, Visus, Zagaritis; Tahiri; Kadile, Nalic, Robinet, Hansen; Brym
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Bielica; Busi, Van Den Bergh, Kongolo, Kemper; Sauer, Balard, Leemans, Sowah; Omarsson, Kostorz
We say: Almere City 0-1 NAC Breda
Aiming to end their winless run and slide towards the bottom end of the table, NAC Breda should get the better of an Almere City side who are seeing their survival hopes quickly dwindling in the midst of a losing streak.
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Sam Varley
