Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Eredivisie clash between NEC and AZ Alkmaar, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Off the back of a first defeat in five matches last time out, NEC entertain the challenge of AZ Alkmaar at Stadion de Goffert on Sunday afternoon.
The away side, on the other hand, will be looking to exact revenge on their hosts following a 2-1 defeat in this season’s reverse meeting.
Match preview
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AZ Alkmaar exhibited great powers of recovery to come out on top from a 3-2 thriller against RKC Waalwijk at the AFAS Stadion on April 13.
David Min‘s first-half brace left Maarten Martens‘s men with a mountain to climb at half time after which second-half goals from Yukinari Sugawara, Ibrahim Sadiq and Vangelis Pavlidis turned the game around.
With 55 points picked up from 30 matches so far, the Cheeseheads sit fourth in the league standings, six points clear of Ajax in fifth place.
Having let in five goals in each of their last two away outings, Sunday’s visitors will need to keep things tight at the back to avoid another defensive meltdown on the road.
NEC were knocked out at the semi-final stage of the KNVB Beker in a narrow 1-0 defeat against Feyenoord in Sunday’s meeting at De Kuip.
Rogier Meijer‘s men trailed to Igor Paixao‘s opener just shy of the hour mark and that proved to be the all-important moment in a tight affair.
Prior to that, the Eniesee played out a 2-2 stalemate against PEC Zwolle and are currently sixth in the Eredivisie table, two points shy of Ajax with a game in hand.
Next up is the task of facing off against an opposing outfit who have suffered only one defeat across the last six editions of this fixture.
Having picked up nine wins and one draw from their most recent 10 home involvements, Sunday’s hosts are flying in front of their fans and will take some stopping this weekend.
NEC Eredivisie form:
NEC form (all competitions):
AZ Alkmaar Eredivisie form:
Team News
Bruno Martins Indi and Lequincio Zeefuik are ruled out through back and ankle injuries respectively, while Sem Westerveld continues to nurse a knee problem.
The away side will also be without the services of forward Mayckel Lahdo, who remains without an appearance since the final week of February.
Bas Dost is still unavailable for NEC due to a heart problem, and the Dutchman is joined on the sidelines by fellow compatriot Kas de Wit.
Yvandro Borges Sanches misses out for the hosts due to a knee problem, but the 19-year-old is drawing closer to a return to first-team action.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; Verdonk, Nuytinck, Sandler, Van Rooy; Proper, Hoedemakers; Baas, Sano, Chery; Ogawa
AZ Alkmaar possible starting lineup:
Raya; Sugawara, Goes, Bazoer, Wolfe; Dantas, Kwakman; Mijnans, De Wit, Van Bommel; Pavlidis
We say: NEC 1-1 AZ Alkmaar
Both teams boast similar attacking records heading into this one, so we expect neither of them to come away with a clean sheet. We are also backing a share of the spoils come the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.