Aiming to further stretch their lead at the top of the Eredivisie table and take a step closer to the title, PSV Eindhoven will return from the international break with a trip to NEC on Saturday.
With eight league games remaining, the visitors find themselves still unbeaten and 10 points clear of second-placed Feyenoord, while their hosts will bid to crack the top five with a return to winning ways.
Match preview
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NEC return to action on Saturday in a pleasing position in the Eredivisie following the final international break of the season, having enjoyed a much-improved campaign thus far after last year's 12th-placed finish.
Indeed, the Nijmegen outfit have already matched last season's tally of 39 points in the Dutch top flight from their opening 26 games, currently sitting sixth as a result having managed 10 victories while only suffering seven defeats.
The most recent three of those triumphs came consecutively in an eye-catching run across late February and early March, as Rogier Meijer's side firstly played out a creditable draw with Ajax before comfortably beating Sparta Rotterdam, Volendam and Heerenveen to move into the top six.
They would score nine goals across those three games while only conceding twice, but Meijer's men were unable to make it four straight wins and apply further pressure on the top five in their final match before the break, travelling to eighth-placed Utrecht and leaving empty-handed as Sam Lammers condemned them to a 1-0 defeat with the only goal on the hour mark.
Now returning from the break with just a two-point lead over seventh-placed Go Ahead Eagles but the same gap up to fifth-placed Ajax, NEC can quickly improve their standing further at the top end of the Eredivisie with a strong run to end the campaign and will be keen to bounce back to winning ways in their first game back on Saturday.
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They would be the first team to do so in the Eredivisie this season, though, as the visitors travel aiming to maintain their unbeaten record and further stretch their lead in a bid to regain the Dutch title this term.
Having not prevailed in the top flight since 2018, PSV Eindhoven have enjoyed a historic pursuit of the title thus far, topping the table throughout the entirety of the campaign having won 72 points from their 26 matches, triumphing in 23 of those and only dropping points on three occasions.
All three of those draws have come in the last nine matches for Peter Bosz's side, after enjoying a perfect start until mid-January, having firstly been held by Utrecht and Ajax either side of a win over Almere City, before bouncing back in style by seeing off Volendam, Heracles and PEC Zwolle in dominant fashion.
A 2-2 draw at home to Feyenoord followed, maintaining the Boeren's 10-point lead in first place, and they have since again made it back-to-back league wins before the break, despite also contending in an unsuccessful Champions League round-of-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund, most recently beating Go Ahead Eagles and Twente 1-0 with Sergino Dest netting the decisive goal in the former and Ricardo Pepi wrapping up all three points with a 96th-minute winner at home to the latter.
While they may not be displaying the same form they did in the opening months of the campaign, having played out a draw and scraped through two narrow wins in their last three outings, PSV Eindhoven have been able to maintain an unbeaten record and a healthy lead with the title in their sights, and now with their full focus on the league, they will bid to move three points closer to guaranteeing first place on their return to action at the weekend.
Team News
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NEC will likely remain without Tjarron Chery and Dirk Proper, who were sidelined by injury issues before the break, while veteran forward Bas Dost will also not feature given his own enforced absence.
In their 4-2-3-1 shape, Kodai Sano will continue in an advanced midfield role in Chery's absence, while Koki Ogawa is bound to again lead the line having netted 12 goals in all competitions so far this term, including eight in the Eredivisie.
With top scorer Magnus Mattsson having departed for Copenhagen in the January transfer window, Lasse Schone and Mees Hoedemakers should continue in midfield, while Philippe Sandler and Bram Nuytinck are bound to again partner up at the back.
Peter Bosz may opt to deploy an unchanged PSV Eindhoven starting XI from their 1-0 win over Twente before the break, although Ricardo Pepi does have a claim to come into the attack from the outset, having come off the bench to seal the three points with his ninth goal of the season in that game.
Winger Noa Lang and midfielder Ismael Saibari both missed that game and missed out on recent international call-ups due to ongoing injury issues and could remain confined to the treatment room on Saturday, meaning Jerdy Schouten should again join Joey Veerman, who scored on international duty for the Netherlands against Germany on Tuesday, in the midfield in their 4-2-3-1 setup.
The line will again be led by Luuk De Jong, who has starred with 31 goals in just 40 appearances across all competitions for the Boeren this term, including 22 alongside 11 assists in 26 Eredivisie games, while Guus Til, Hirving Lozano and Johan Bakayoko will all hope to keep their starting spots in a supporting trio behind the 33-year-old.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; Van Rooij, Nuytinck, Sandler, Verdonk; Schone, Hoedemakers; Rober, Sano, Hansen; Ogawa
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Teze, Ramalho, Boscagli, Dest; Schouten, Veerman; Pepi, Til, Lozano; De Jong
We say: NEC 0-2 PSV Eindhoven
PSV Eindhoven were not at their scintillating best before the international break, and the rest may have come at a good time as a reset for Peter Bosz's side.
Although they face a tough test away from home on their return, we can only envisage the Boeren having too much quality and coming out on top at the weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
