Aiming to make it back-to-back wins and move closer to escaping the foot of the Eredivisie table, Almere City will travel to the Goffertstadion on Sunday to take on NEC.
The visitors find themselves seven points adrift of the relegation playoff place and 11 adrift of automatic safety, while their hosts remain 11th after a defeat last time out.
Match preview
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NEC head into the weekend aiming to bounce back to winning ways and climb into the Eredivisie's top half, having suffered a setback last time out.
The Nijmegen outfit dropped to 12th spot following a poor end to 2024, as they picked up just one point from a run of five games across late November and December, but they would show major improvement on their return to action in January.
Rogier Meijer's side began the new year with 1-0 and 4-1 wins over PEC Zwolle and Fortuna Sittard respectively, before moving onto 24 points from 20 games with an impressive 3-3 draw at home to defending champions PSV Einhdoven, having trailed 3-1 heading into injury time and sharing the points thanks to late goals from Kento Shiogai and Bryan Linssen.
A trip to strugglers Groningen then followed last Saturday, but Meijer's side were unable to extend their improved streak, succumbing to a 2-1 defeat having failed to find a leveller after Vito van Crooij halved their deficit in the 66th-minute, with the hosts playing the final 30 minutes with 10 men.
Now trailing ninth-placed Heerenveen and eighth-placed Fortuna Sittard by two points after that setback, NEC will aim to make a return to the top half with a home victory at the weekend.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, head into the weekend's trip aiming to make it back-to-back wins and narrow their gap to safety.
Following a 13th-placed finish last time around, Almere City endured a dismal first half to the 2024-25 Eredivisie season, as a run of six straight defeats across November and December left them on just six points from 16 games.
De Zwarte Schapen have started to show signs of improvement since, though, adding a second and third victory of the season to their tally in the last five attempts, firstly finishing 2024 with a 3-0 beating of Heerenveen and kicking off the new year with a goalless draw against Groningen under the new management of Jeroen Risdijk.
Back-to-back defeats against fellow strugglers Heracles and RKC Waalwijk did then follow, leaving Risdijk's men further adrift at the foot of the division, but they were able to bounce back with an impressive victory away at third-placed Utrecht last weekend, as Junior Kadile netted the only goal of the game in the 28th minute.
While three other sides in the bottom five did also pick up a victory last time out, that result did see Almere City move within seven points of the relegation playoff place while still trailing 15th spot by 11 points, and they will aim to further boost their slim survival hopes with another win at the weekend.
Team News
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NEC are set to remain without midfielder Kodai Sano and defender Thomas Ouwejan on Sunday due to ongoing injury issues.
Rogier Meijer may opt to make several changes to his starting XI after last week's defeat to Groningen, but Koki Ogawa will continue to lead the line having netted a team-high tally of nine goals so far this season, including seven in 20 Eredivisie games.
In Sano's absence, Dirk Proper and Mees Hoedemakers should continue to partner up in the midfield despite competition from veteran Lasse Schone.
Almere City will remain without midfielder Alex Carbonell on Sunday, although they will welcome important defender Joey Jacobs back to contention after he was suspended last time out.
He will likely rejoin Theo Barbet at the heart of the back four, while Thom Haye should again get the nod alongside mainstay Jochem Ritmeester van de Kamp in the midfield.
With no player in the squad having netted more than two goals so far this season, January arrival Charles-Andreas Brym should again lead the line in search of a first goal for his new club.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Pereira, Sandler, Nuytinck, Verdonk; Proper, Hoedemakers; Ouaissa, Van Crooy, Hansen; Ogawa
Almere City possible starting lineup:
Bakker; Akujobi, Jacobs, Barbet, Zagaritis; Haye, Ritmeester Van de Kamp; Hansen, Robinet, Kadile; Brym
We say: NEC 2-1 Almere City
Almere City have certainly shown signs of encouragement in recent weeks and should cause problems for the hosts in search of back-to-back wins to strengthen their survival hopes.
We see NEC having too much quality, though, and back them to come out on top in a tight encounter.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
