With the international break now done and dusted, Eredivisie action resumes this weekend, starting with NAC Breda taking on Groningen at Rat Verlegh Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
A victory for the hosts will see them move up three places in the league standings to ninth, while three points for the visitors will take them into the top eight above Fortuna Sittard.
Match preview
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For NAC Breda, the international break may have come at just the right time, as they had failed to win any of their last seven games, with the most recent one ending in a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to basement club Almere City.
Looking further back, the Pearl of the South have only managed a single victory in 11 league matches dating back to mid-December (W1 D4 L6), a period during which they scored 11 goals and conceded 21.
Indeed, Carl Hoefkens's side have struggled in defence of late, and the 44 goals they have conceded this season is the fifth-most of any team in the division, while the 28 they have scored is the fourth-fewest.
However, the hosts have been fairly difficult to get the better of on their home patch, currently unbeaten in their last four league matches at Rat Verlegh Stadion (W1 D3 L0), which is their longest top-flight run without defeat at home since 2014.
NAC will also be out for revenge here, having suffered a 4-1 defeat to this opponent in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season back in August.
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Meanwhile, Groningen have enjoyed an impressive season so far and are right in the thick of the battle for a European spot in just their first season back in the top tier of Dutch league football.
The Pride of the North went into the international break on an upward trajectory, beating Fortuna Sittard 1-0 in their last match to extend their unbeaten run in the Eredivisie to four games (W3 D1 L0).
Dick Lukkien's side has now taken 14 points from their last seven league games (W4 D2 L1), which is a significant improvement after only managing to pick up eight points from their preceding seven matches.
However, the visitors have struggled on the road this season, losing eight of their last 10 league outings (W1 D1 L8), while the sole victory they managed during that period came against fellow newly promoted outfit Willem II last month.
Team News
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NAC Breda will be without the services of centre-back Leo Greiml, who is still serving a suspension for the straight red he received in the draw against Sparta Rotterdam at the start of the month.
The hosts will also be missing Reims loanee Maxime Busi, who is sidelined until next month with a foot injury, while Raul Paula, Kacper Kostorz and Cherrion Valerius are all listed as injury doubts.
For the visitors, young left-winger Fofin Turay has now missed the last nine matches across all competitions due to an Achilles injury, which could keep him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
Sven Bouland, Mats Seuntjens and Dirk Baron are also ruled out this week owing to injury, but Marvin Peersman could return to the starting lineup, having recovered from a broken foot ahead of the international break.
NAC Breda possible starting lineup:
Bielica; Lucassen, Mahmutovic, Van den Bergh, Kemper; Sauer, Staring, Balard, Sowah; Omarsson, Van Hooijdonk
Groningen possible starting lineup:
Vaessen; Rente, Ekdal, Blokzijl, Prins; Resink, De Jonge; Schreuders, Valente, Kwakman; Van Bergen
We say: NAC Breda 1-1 Groningen
While Groningen won the reverse fixture comfortably on the opening weekend of the season, NAC Breda have been a tough side to overcome on their home patch this term and are unbeaten in their last three home games against this opponent.
This should be a much closer match than the last one, and we feel that there will be nothing to split these two at the final whistle.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
