Fortuna Sittard will be looking to maintain their perfect start to the new Eredivisie season when they entertain the challenge of NEC on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, the away side make the trip this weekend in search of consecutive victories, having picked up their first win of the campaign last time out.
Match preview
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Fortuna Sittard wrapped up pre-season on a shaky note, losing three of their final four warm-up games, but they have since laid any concerns to rest with two league wins from as many matches so far.
Danny Buijs's men cruised to a routine 2-0 triumph over Go Ahead Eagles on the opening weekend before running out 3-0 winners against Almere City in their subsequent outing on August 16.
Having had their round-three clash postponed due to Ajax's involvement in the Europa League qualifiers, the Fortunezen took on Belgian outfit Genk in a friendly meeting on Saturday and lost 2-0.
Nonetheless, it has been a more than encouraging start for Fortuna, as they currently sit fifth in the Eredivisie table and are one of two teams—alongside AZ Alkmaar—yet to concede a league goal this term.
An opportunity to end a run of five matches without a victory against this weekend's visitors now awaits the home side, who managed just one point across both of last season's encounters.
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In keeping with an abysmal pre-season, NEC raised the curtain on their 2024-25 Eredivisie journey with a narrow 2-1 defeat against FC Twente at Stadion de Goffert on August 10.
Rogier Meijer's men just about fell short once again in their second outing courtesy of a 1-0 loss at the hands of AZ Alkmaar, with Sven Mijnans's 15th-minute strike proving enough to settle matters.
However, the Eniesee finally got themselves up and running at the third attempt last time out, where they left it late to claim a hard-fought 1-0 win against PEC Zwolle on Saturday.
That snapped a seven-game winless streak across all competitions for NEC since narrowly beating Almere City 2-1 in last season's closing fixture back in May.
Saturday's visitors will hope their rough start to the campaign is finally behind them as they look to make it back to back wins and head into the international break with the wind in their sails.
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Team News
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Fortuna Sittard's Kaj Sierhuis continues his spell on the sidelines with a long-term knee problem, and the 26-year-old is still a long way off returning to action.
Midfielder Alen Halilovic is definitely one to keep an eye on for the home side, having found the back of the net in both of his two Eredivisie games this term.
With two clean sheets from as many league games, Danny Buijs is expected to name an unchanged defensive unit consisting of Mitchell Dijks and Ivo Pinto either side of Rodrigo Guth and Shawn Adewoye.
Philippe Sandler is out of contention for NEC this weekend as he continues to deal with a muscle injury that he suffered towards the back end of last season.
Summer arrival Thomas Ouwejan could finally be handed his first start off the back of consecutive substitute appearances against AZ Alkmaar and PEC Zwolle.
Fortuna Sittard possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; Pinto, Adewoye, Guth, Dijks; Rosier, Fosso; Halilovic, Mitrovic, Peterson; Aiko
NEC possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Pereira, Alvarez, Nuytinck, Verdonk; Proper, Hoedemakers; Gonzalez, Sano, Onal; Ogawa
We say: Fortuna Sittard 1-0 NEC
Fortuna Sittard have the momentum heading into this one, and the added advantage of playing in front of their fans makes them huge favourites.
While we expect NEC to put up a good fight, we can see Fortuna just about doing enough to carry the day.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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