NEC and FC Twente will take to the field for their Eredivisie season opener on Saturday evening as they go head-to-head at Stadion de Goffert in Nijmegen.
Both sides head into their opening fixture off the back of relatively successful league campaigns last time out and will have every reason to be confident of another strong showing.
Match preview
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After securing consecutive top-five finishes in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Twente had punched significantly above their weight for a team that only just regained promotion to the top flight in 2019.
Once again, Joseph Oosting's men caught the eye last time out as they finished third in the standings with an impressive 69 points from 34 league matches to record their highest points tally since 2011, when they finished as runners-up to Ajax.
The Tukkers also equalled their best league position in a decade to give themselves a shot at returning to the Champions League for the first time in 13 years via the playoffs.
On that front, Twente have work to do in next week's return leg following a narrow 2-1 defeat to Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg in the first leg of the sides' third-round qualifying tie on Tuesday evening.
For now, though, Saturday's visitors are focused on kicking off their domestic campaign with all three points but will need to turn things around on the road, having won just one of their last seven away matches leading up to this weekend.
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Like Twente, NEC have also taken many by surprise with their league performances since moving up to the top tier of Dutch football in 2022 after a five-year spell in the Eerste Divisie.
Rogier Meijer's men finished 11th and 12th in their first two seasons back up before a sixth-place finish last time out saw them secure a place in the Conference League playoffs semi-final.
However, the Eniesee saw their push for European football ended by Go Ahead Eagles in a 2-1 defeat, and three losses from the subsequent four friendly outings have left them winless in five straight games.
Nonetheless, the Eniesee will approach the upcoming campaign with plenty of optimism, although a tough run of games against three of last season's top four in the first five gameweeks is sure to pose a stern test.
Saturday's hosts have failed to emerge victorious from any home game since March, and this weekend's clash is as good a time as any to get back to winning ways in front of their fans.
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Team News
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NEC's Philippe Sandler is set to miss a ninth game on the bounce due to a muscle injury which he picked up towards the back end of last season.
Sontje Hansen has not featured in any game for the home side since May 19, and the 22-year-old is not expected to play any part this weekend either.
Czech Republic international Michal Sadilek is a guaranteed absentee for Saturday's affair as the midfielder continues to nurse a shin problem.
Michel Vlap came off the bench to find the back of the net in midweek and could be rewarded with a place in the visitors' starting lineup here.
Summer arrival Sam Lammers is one to keep an eye on over the course of the campaign after he racked up 14 direct goal involvements in 20 Eredivisie games on loan at Utrecht last time out.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Van Rooy, Marquez, Nuytinck, Verdonk; Hoedemakers, Proper; Gonzalez, Onal, Sano; Ouaissa
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Salah-Eddine, Van Hoorenbeeck, Hilgers, Regeer; Eiting, Kjolo; Vlap, Lammers, Rots; Van Wolfswinkel
We say: NEC 1-2 FC Twente
With one eye on their Champions League qualifier three days later, Twente may be tempted to rest a number of key players for this one.
Nonetheless, we are backing the visitors to come away with all three points, albeit by only a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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