NEC and FC Twente raise the curtain on their 2022-23 Eredivisie campaign when they go head to head at the Goffertstadion on Sunday.
Rogier Meijer's men will be looking for an improved display following last season's 11th-placed finish, while the visiting side head into the weekend off the back of a sensational pre-season campaign.
Match preview
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NEC enjoyed a decent run in the 2021-22 Eredivisie campaign as they secured an 11th-placed finish in the league standings, level on 38 points with 10th-placed Waalwijk.
Meijer's side picked up 10 wins, eight draws and lost 16 of their 34 games last term to finish just three points shy of eighth-placed Heerenveen in the Conference League qualification playoff spot.
NEC head into the new season's curtain-raiser off the back of a promising pre-season display as they lost once and picked up four wins from their five friendly matchups, including a 3-1 win over Heracles in their most recent outing last Friday.
In that encounter, Nikolai Laursen minutes into the second period to cancel out Pedro Marques' first-half strike, but goals from Ivan Marquez and Mikkel Duelund helped the Eniesee pick up a solid victory and cap off their pre-season on a high.
While NEC will look to build on their recent friendly results and kick off the new campaign on a high, standing in their way is the threat of an opposing side who are unbeaten in 15 of their last 20 encounters since April 2009.
Meanwhile, FC Twente got their Europa Conference League qualifiers off to a bang as they claimed a comfortable 3-1 victory away to Cukaricki in the first leg of their third-round clash on Thursday.
Ron Jans's men ran riot in the first half as Daan Rots, Michel Vlap and Joshua Brenet scored inside the opening 43 minutes, before 23-year-old Stefan Kovac pulled one back for the Serbian outfit.
Consequently, Twente have now won seven consecutive games across all competitions, including each of their four pre-season friendlies games, where they scored 13 goals and conceded three.
Having won their final two Eredivisie games last season, the Pride of the East will now look to pick up where they dropped off and build on their impressive fourth-placed finish in the 2021-22 campaign.
Twente, who head into the weekend unbeaten in their last four away games in the league, claiming three wins and one draw in that time, will aim to continue in the same vein and pick up successive victories at the Goffertstadion.
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Team News
NEC will take to the pitch without the services of Jordy Bruijn and Mathias De Wolf, who have both been sidelined through injuries.
They are joined on the club's injury table by Magnus Mattsson after the 23-year-old midfielder missed the final pre-season game against Koln through a knee problem.
Twente recently completed the permanent signings of Vlap from Anderlecht and the 25-year-old should retain his role in the starting XI off the back of a fine pre-season display.
The Dutch forward, who has netted four goals in four games since the end of last season, should be joined at the centre of the park by Michal Sadílek and holding midfielder Ramiz Zerrouki.
At the attacking end of the pitch, we expect an unchanged front three of Rots, Virgil Misidjan and Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who registered 16 goals and eight assists in the Eredivisie last term.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Branderhorst; van Rooij, Alvarez, Kramer, Verdonk; Schone, Bruijn, Baldursson; Marques, Tavsan, Tannane
FC Twente possible starting lineup:
Unnerstall; Brenet, Propper, Hilgers, Smal; Vlap, Zerrouki; Sadílek; Misidjan, Wolfswinkel, Rots
We say: NEC 1-3 FC Twente
Twente head into the weekend on a superb run of results and are clear favourites to claim all three points in this one. They have enjoyed the better of this fixture and while we expect the hosts to put up a fight, we are backing Jans's men to come out victorious once again.
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Top tip
Joshua Ojele
