With a sixth consecutive home victory on the cards, AZ Alkmaar play host to newcomers NEC at the AFAS Stadion on Saturday.
On the other hand, the away side head into the game on a four-game unbeaten streak, which should make for an absorbing affair.
Match preview
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AZ Alkmaar were beaten for the second consecutive game away from home following a 1-0 defeat versus Feyenoord on November 7.
The contest was level heading to final knockings before Cyriel Dessers popped up with a 92nd-minute winner to sink Pascal Jansen's men in Rotterdam.
The Cheeseheads have slipped into the bottom half of the Eredivisie table as a result, three points behind ninth-placed Willem II.
Lying in store next for them is a fixture which they have won four of the last six editions, including a 4-1 friendly victory in the most recent encounter three months ago.
Saturday's hosts, who have only dropped three points in their four home league outings so far, will be confident of picking up another positive result come the full-time whistle this weekend.
NEC saw their three-game winning streak come to an end following a 1-1 stalemate versus Heerenveen on November 6.
Roger Meijer's men took the lead eight minutes into the second half thanks to Ali Akman before Joey Veerman levelled matters with 18 minutes of normal time remaining.
Having recorded 18 points from their 12 games to date, the Eniesee are four places and three points better of this weekend's opponents in the league table.
Saturday's visitors have made one of the best starts by a newly-promoted team in the Dutch top flight will be keen to build on that.
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Team News
NEC will take to the field without the services of Rens van Eijden, who has been nursing a knee injury for the past six months.
Mathias De Wolf is also not expected to feature for the away side due to a muscle injury, and he is joined on the sidelines by Mikkel Duelund, who is yet to shake off an ankle injury.
Greek forward Vangelis Pavlidis has scored four goals in his last three home matches for AZ and is one to keep an eye on this weekend.
Twenty-one-year-old Thijs Oosting is not expected to play any part for the hosts as he steps up his recovery from a knee injury.
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Vindahl; Wijndal, Martins Indi, Chatzidiakos, Sugawara; Midtsjo, Clasie, De Wit; Karlsson, Pavlidis, Gudmundsson
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Barreto, Odenthal, Marquez; Van Rooij, Schone, Bruijn, El Karouani; Tavsan, Akman, Okita
We say: AZ Alkmaar 2-1 NEC
AZ Alkmaar currently find themselves way off the higher echelons of the table following an inconsistent start to the season and will be looking to close that gap in the coming weeks. The visitors, on the other hand, head into this one high on confidence, but we fancy the hosts to claim all three points in what should be a keenly-contested affair.
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 AZ Alkmaar win with a probability of 72.14%. A draw had a probability of 16.7% and a win for NEC had a probability of 11.12%.
The most likely scoreline for an AZ Alkmaar win was 2-0 with a probability of 11.37%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (9.47%) and 2-1 (9.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (7.87%), while for a NEC win it was 0-1 (3.28%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 7.9% likelihood.
