Preview:Almere City vs. NEC - prediction, team news, lineups

Almere City and NEC draw the curtain on their respective 2023-24 Eredivisie seasons with a meeting at the Yanmar Stadion on Sunday afternoon.

Both teams head into this one off the back of defeats last time out and will be looking to bounce back in their season finale this weekend.

Match preview

Almere City were beaten for the third time in four matches as they fell to a comprehensive 3-0 defeat against Ajax at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Sunday.

Steven Bergwijn was the star of the show as he grabbed a first-half hat-trick to put Alex Pastoor's men to the sword in a largely one-sided affair.

Consequently, De Zwarte Schapen remain 13th in the Eredivisie table, five points clear of the drop zone and nine adrift of a top-half place.

Next up is the challenge of an opposing outfit with little to choose between the sides over the last eight clashes, which have yielded three wins apiece and two draws.

Winless in their last six home matches leading up to this weekend, Sunday's hosts now go in search of a long-awaited victory in front of their fans.

NEC Nijmegen suffered a second straight home defeat in a 3-2 loss to erstwhile champions Feyenoord at Stadion de Goffert on Sunday afternoon.

Goals from Calvin Stengs and Yankuba Minteh saw Rogier Meijer's men trail 1-0 and 2-1, but they managed to restore parity on either occasion thanks to Kodai Sano and Sontje Hansen before Ayase Ueda decided the game with an 87th-minute strike.

With 50 points amassed from 33 league matches this term, the Eniesee sit sixth and are guaranteed a place in the Europa Conference League playoff semi-final.

Having picked up seven points from the last nine available away from home, Sunday's visitors will be confident of securing another positive result on enemy territory.

Team News

Peer Koopmeiners is ineligible to feature for Almere City, having received his marching orders in the draw against Heerenveen earlier this month.

Stijn Keller and Yann Kitala are also out of contention for the home side as they continue to nurse shoulder and muscle injuries respectively.

Twenty-one-year-old Yoann Cathline is a doubt for this one after coming off with an injury scare in the defeat to Ajax last time out.

Philippe Sandler and Bart van Rooy remain unavailable for NEC Nijmegen, who are already without long-term absentees Bas Dost and Kas de Wit.

Dutch defender Bram Nuytinck was sent off in the visitors' defeat to Feyenoord and will serve a one-game suspension this weekend.

Almere City possible starting lineup: Bakker; Floranus, Barbet, Van Bruggen, Jacobs, Akujobi; Van de Kamp, Robinet, Resink; Pascu, Hansen

NEC possible starting lineup: Cillessen; Verdonk, Baas, Ross, Pereira; Proper, Hoedemakers; Chery, Gonzalez, Sano; Sow

We say: Almere City 1-1 NEC

There is little to play for heading into this weekend's contest, but we expect a keenly-contested affair nonetheless, with the sides matching each other over the course of the 90 minutes and settling for a share of the spoils in the end.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.