Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a NEC win with a probability of 53.98%. A win for Heerenveen had a probability of 24.75% and a draw had a probability of 21.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a NEC win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.49%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (7.08%) and 1-0 (6.89%). The likeliest Heerenveen win was 1-2 (6.19%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.23%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that NEC would win this match.