Matchday 17 of the 2024-25 Eredivisie season concludes with a meeting between Willem II and NEC at the Koning Willem II Stadion on Sunday evening.
There is little to choose between the teams currently separated by just two points in the league table, and this weekend's clash in Tilburg could easily swing either way.
Match preview
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Willem II suffered arguably their most disappointing result of the campaign last time out having been knocked out of the KNVB Beker by lower league opposition Noordwijk in Thursday's meeting at Sportpark Duinwetering.
Goals in either half from Emiel Wendt and Arantis Roep left Peter Maes's men with a mountain to climb before Jeremy Bokila pulled one back within two minutes of coming on as a substitute to set up a frenetic final half hour.
This came off the back of a 1-0 victory over Zwolle, which saw De Superkruiken snap a run of consecutive defeats and three games without a victory since beating AZ Alkmaar 2-1 on November 10.
While Willem II have struggled for consistency in terms of results so far, they are currently just three points adrift of the final Conference League playoff spot and a healthy seven points clear of relegation danger.
Only PSV Eindhoven, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar have let in fewer goals so far than Sunday's hosts (18), whose offensive output could, however, do with a real boost, with only four teams finding the back of the net on fewer occasions, all of whom are in the bottom six.
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Having won four of five matches across all competitions after returning from the October international break, NEC Nijmegen looked to have turned their season around, but their form has since taken a downward spiral.
A run of three defeats on the bounce against FC Utrecht, Ajax and Go Ahead Eagles was snapped via a 1-1 stalemate against Sparta Rotterdam, after which Rogier Meijer's men were dumped out of the KNVB Beker by Heracles on Wednesday.
NEC have failed to hit the heights from last season, where they finished sixth, and currently sit 12th in the standings, albeit with no immediate concern of a relegation scrap given their five-point buffer over the bottom three.
The Eniesee certainly have another gear to hit in the second half of the campaign, but their immediate concern will be on wrapping 2024 with a win to help lift the mood a bit ahead of the start of the new year.
Unbeaten in 14 straight editions of this fixture dating back to 2008, Sunday's visitors have more than fared well in games against their hosts and will be confident of coming away with a positive result once again.
Team News
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Kyan Vaesen and Niels van Berkel are both out of contention for Willem II due to respective knee injuries, while Dani Mathieu continues to battle with a knock.
With defensive duo Rob Nizet and Mickael Tirpan still unavailable, Per van Loon could be set for another starting appearance after his 62-minute outing against Noordwijk.
Amar Ahmed is set to miss a seventh consecutive game for the home side through injury, but the midfielder is drawing increasingly closer to a return to action.
Since coming off in the first half of NEC's 5-0 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles earlier this month, Bram Nuytinck has missed the subsequent two matches and is on course to be left out of Sunday's game.
Despite failing to score in his last five games for the away side, Koki Ogawa is expected to lead the line once again as the 27-year-old looks to add to his team-high five goals.
Willem II possible starting lineup:
Didillon; Schouten, Behounek, St. Jago; Sigurgeirsson, Lackhar, Bosch, Doodeman; Meerveld, Joosten, Bokila
NEC possible starting lineup:
Roefs; Verdonk, Alvarez, Sandler, Pereira; Proper, Sano; Hansen, Ouaissa, Onal; Ogawa
We say: Willem II 1-1 NEC
Both sides could really do with all three points following some disappointing results of late, but we are backing a share of the spoils with honours even at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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