Striving to take the next step towards an immediate return to the Eredivisie, Emmen will welcome NAC Breda to De Oude Meerdijk for the second leg of their Eredivisie promotion playoff semi-final on Saturday afternoon.
The contest is perfectly poised following a 1-1 draw in the first match, with the winners of the bout set to face either SBV Excelsior or ADO Den Haag in the final.
Match preview
After being relegated to the Eerste Divisie through the playoffs last season, Emmen are hoping to climb up the ladder 12 months on, with the Kannibals enjoying a rich vein of form under new management heading into a season-defining contest at De Oude Meerdijk on Saturday afternoon.
Since the arrival of 58-year-old Alfons Arts to the managerial hotseat in the middle of April, Emmen have managed to string together a seven-game unbeaten run to seriously boost their chances of promotion, with the Dutch head coach winning five of those matches as his troops sneaked into the playoffs.
Three straight losses to Eredivisie-bound Groningen, Jong AZ and MVV Maastricht at the beginning of April under the tutelage of former boss Fred Grim severely hampered the Kannibals' hopes of returning to the top flight, but the club are now just a few matches away from escaping the second tier.
Following Sigurd Haugen's opener for NAC Breda in a well-contested first leg on Tuesday night, Emmen did remarkably to extend their unbeaten spell under Arts and level the scores heading into the second leg, with Aberdeen loanee Vicente Besuijen breaching the net of Pepijn van de Merbel in the second half.
Having enjoyed a prolific Eerste Divisie spell at fallen playoff hopefuls De Graafschap during the 2016-17 season, Piotr Parzyszek is now in the colours of Emmen and hoping to fire them towards the Eredivisie, with the Polish marksman netting nine goals in 35 league appearances so far this season.
Matching the form of their semi-final counterparts, NAC Breda also come into this second-leg clash on Saturday afternoon proudly possessing a seven-game unbeaten run in the Eerste Divisie, starting with a 2-2 draw at basement dwellers Den Bosch on April 19.
Although a share of the spoils versus the side who finished 19th in the second tier is hardly promotion-clinching behaviour, the Pearl of the South have gone on to produce some notable results in recent times to give their Eredivisie dreams a boost, including an 8-1 smashing of Roda JC over two legs during the quarter-finals.
A four-match spell without defeat at the end of the regular Eerste Divisie campaign was enough to see NAC Breda sneak into the post-season picture, with Saturday's visitors finishing up in eighth, ahead of Maastricht and Jong AZ on goal difference after 38 games of league action.
The Pearl of the South have recent experience of earning a much-needed win at De Oude Meerdijk at the beginning of the year in January, when goals from Matthew Garbett, Elias Mar Omarsson and Martin Koscelnik sealed a 3-2 success over Emmen.
Taking his maiden managerial role in the Netherlands after a spell in charge of Guangzhou City in China, Jean-Paul van Gastel is the man tasked with taking Breda back to the top table of Dutch football for the first time since 2019, with the 52-year-old winning 15 of his 35 competitive matches so far.
Team News
After failing to provide much of an attacking threat in the early stages of the match, Emmen could be in line to make changes to their options on the flanks, with Desley Ubbink and Bradley van Hoeven potentially dropping to the bench.
Such alterations to the XI would allow the likes of Joey Konings and Maarten Pouwels to earn starting berths, with the latter starting just once so far in the campaign.
Making four saves last time out, Eric Oelschlagel was a solid line of defence for the Kannibals and should restrict Kyan van Dorp to a watching brief once again.
Bagging the first goal of the game on Tuesday in the first leg, Breda's Norwegian marksman Haugen impressed massively and will keep counterpart Tom Boere on the bench.
Boyd Lucassen and Manel Royo were effective in their full-back roles last time out and both have done enough to retain their spots in the starting XI.
Emmen possible starting lineup:
Oelschlagel; Wierik, Vos, Dirksen, Hardeveld; Kieftenbeld, Bernadou, Konings, Besuijen, Ubbink; Parzyszek
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Van de Merbel; Lucassen, Martina, Van den Bergh, Royo; Jensen, Staring, Kuijpers, Omgba, Janosek; Haugen
We say: Emmen 2-1 NAC Breda
Considering their seven-game unbeaten record under their new manager, Emmen should be confident of recording a win in front of their own supporters to reach the playoff final.
NAC Breda are also in a rich vein of form and upset the odds emphatically during the last round, but we feel that the visitors will narrowly lose out on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
