NEC Nijmegen vs Almere City FC Predictions

The season looked as good as over for Almere City after a woeful run of six straight defeats in December and January, but Schappenkoppen have come alive over the past few weeks. Michele Santoni’s side secured their third consecutive victory with a fantastic 0-1 success at RKC last Friday, and they are now back within touching distance of the Play-offs. NEC will be seeking to break their resurgence this week, as the Nijmegen outfit also try and make inroads on the top nine.

Almere City weren’t fancied to take any points from an RKC side who were searching for their sixth win on the bounce in Waalwijk last week, but Michele Santoni’s men took advantage of a flat display from the hosts to pinch a 0-1 win.

Tim Receveur’s goal on the half hour mark landed a vital three points for Schappenkoppen, who are now back in contention for the Play-offs after prior victories against Roda JC (1-2) and Jong AZ (2-0).

After slumping to 15^th during their dismal spell, City are now up to 11^th with 13 matches left to play, and they could end match day 26 in the Play-off places if they manage to beat NEC here and other results go their way.

They certainly have a good chance of doing that based on recent performances, and odds of around 11/4 for an away success this Friday do look pretty generous.

Nonetheless, hosts NEC are in decent shape at the moment, and they have been a tough nut to crack over the past month or so.

Resilience is not exactly a word we can associate with Jack De Gier’s side in terms of the season overall, but there has definitely been a change in mentality in the NEC camp lately, as typified by last week’s thrilling 4-4 draw at 3^rd placed Go Ahead Eagles.

NEC were twice behind by a two goal margin at De Adelaarshorst, but fought back valiantly to earn a point, as new man Ferdy Druijf struck two further goals from the penalty spot.

The result means NEC are now unbeaten in five, and they are clinging onto the coat tails of the Play-off teams, despite still being 15^th in the standings.

De Gier’s charges will need to go on a sizeable winning run at some point if they are to overhaul several of the teams who are stacked up in front of them in the table, and it’s not inconceivable that recent efforts can drive them to start turning draws into victories on a regular basis.

Both this fixture and next week’s away trip to Dordrecht present NEC with a realistic chance to put six points on the board, but we can’t justify backing the hosts at odds-on here, despite their recent improvement.

Ultimately, NEC have still only won one of their last nine Eerste Divisie outings, and whilst Almere City can hardly be cast in the reliable category, the visitors have won their last two on the road and are well priced to follow up again.

City won the reverse fixture 1-0 at Yanmar Stadion which adds a further tick in the box for Michele Santoni’s side, and they are the tentative selection for us in this one, with a repeat of October’s scoreline highly plausible.