EINDHOVEN FC VS NIJMEGEN PREVIEW & PREDICTION
NEC Nijmegen left two expensive points last week in its own Goffert and that’s why Fortuna Sittard came closer again. The champion candidate hopes to boost his self-confidence in Eindhoven.
FC Eindhoven:
Last season, FC Eindhoven seemed to be setting up for the playoffs, but on the last day of play, it finally went wrong. This year it all runs a bit stiff with the Brabanders. The injury list is actually too long all year and the performance seems to get worse with the month. The team from Eindhoven played nice for the winter break, so a ticket for the playoffs belonged to the possibilities, but later things went wrong. Trainer David Nascimento does not get the blue-whites to play football and that’s why the season seems to be over. FC Eindhoven has dropped to the eighteenth place and has a view of improvement and, for example, there is no period title. The last eight games yielded seven losses, which shows that the team is heading to the end of the competition without control.
FC Eindhoven recently recorded a 5-2 victory over Jong FC Utrecht, but that result did not immediately lead to the turnaround. Last week in Maastricht there was ‘just’ another defeat suffered by visiting MVV. The visitors played quite well with the team of coach Ron Elsen, but that did not result in a victory or a run. Alessandro Ciranni put the 1-0 at the end of the first half on the board and in the last minute it was Kelechi Nwakali who managed to put an end to all illusions by shooting an assigned penalty against the ropes. It was already the seventeenth defeat of the season for FC Eindhoven.
At FC Eindhoven, Mart Lieder dominated the news this week. The current top scorer of the Jupiler League was suspended by the trainer staff for a match in a disciplinary way and that is a big downer. Nascimento did not want to go into the issue one day before the match, but he confirmed that after the match, Lieder would just be part of the first selection again. Furthermore, there are some mutations this week in the area of injury. Thomas Horsten is available again after five months of absence, while Tarik Kada will have to cancel this game due to illness. Behind the name of Abdelmalek El Hasnaoui is still a question mark.
NEC Nijmegen:
Three victories in a row without even a goal to give NEC a huge boost, but the last few weeks have shown that the Gelderers will have to go deep to catch the title. The team of trainer Pepijn Lijnders seemed to have settled with Fortuna Sittard, but equal play against SC Cambuur and De Graafschap caused the Limburgers to come closer again. Young Ajax and NEC are currently at 61 points, while Fortuna Sittard collected two points less. A defeat could therefore result in the third position and that is something the men of Lijnders try to prevent. In that respect, the match against the swaying FC Eindhoven seems to be ideal in advance to restore self-confidence, but NEC will certainly not underestimate this showdown.
Last week, the points were shared with De Graafschap. In the spectacular opening phase it became immediately clear that both teams wanted to focus on the attack. Anass Achahbar seemed to put NEC in a seat after three minutes of playing, but a minute later it was already Youssef El Jebli’s turn to make the net shine. The supporters seemed to be allowed to go for a goal-wide game, but it did not come that far. After ninety minutes of football, the 1-1 score was still on the board. NEC actually had very little to that result, especially given that Fortuna Sittard could win her match.
Lijnders again has Arnaut Groeneveld and Ferdi Kadioglu available this week. Both players missed the last match in the Jupiler League because of the interland weekend, but they are back again this time. Furthermore, the question remains whether Ted van de Pavert can take action. The defender suffers a minor calf injury. The selection of NEC is also big enough and Lijnders has enough available options to form a strong team.
PREDICTION: Nijmegen to win @ 1.52
