NEC Nijmegen vs AZ Reserves Predictions

Three defeats in four have seen NEC’s season fall apart in recent weeks, and after losing their longstanding unbeaten home run on match day nine, Jack De Gier’s men were humiliated 1-5 by Oss at Goffertstadion last Friday night. They appear once again in Nijmegen this Sunday after also losing 2-3 at home to Fortuna Sittard in the KNVB Beker on Wednesday evening, and only a win against 16^th placed Jong AZ will be good enough to stem the tide.

The signs were present for NEC in the opening weeks of the season, as despite going unbeaten in their first seven matches, they turned in some poor performances including their 4-4 draw at home to Jong PSV on match day five – the second occasion up to that point where they’d squandered a two goal advantage this term.

October began on a sour note for Jack De Gier’s men as they lost their first match away to Almere City 1-0, before their 23 match unbeaten streak at home was broken by FC Eindhoven, who also won 0-1. A 0-3 success away to Telstar on match day 10 was a decent response from NEC, but they simply fell to pieces last Friday night as Oss ran out emphatic 1-5 winners at Goffertstadion.

NEC have dropped to 8^th in the table as a result and things really look bleak for them at the moment having also exited the KNVB Beker in midweek with a 2-3 defeat in Nijmegen against Eredivisie outfit Fortuna Sittard. Favourites for promotion pre-season, it may not be long before De Gier is shown the door unless NEC turn things around quickly.

They have a decent chance to start doing that this weekend as they play host to a Jong AZ side that’s won just one game in 11 outings this season – with that success coming against 2^nd placed Go Ahead Eagles on match day five.

Since that triumph, Martin Haar’s men have drawn five of their last six Eerste Divisie games, including a 1-1 result at home to Roda JC last week.

Aside from the fact Jong just can’t seem to buy a win at the moment, three of their last four draws have come against other teams in the bottom five which clearly indicates their limitations.

After finishing 17^th in 2017/18, evidence so far suggests the Alkmaar reserves look booked for a similar campaign this time around and they can’t be supported here from a betting perspective with such a poor win ratio – despite how much NEC are struggling.

And the hosts’ recent form is enough for us to swerve them too here in the match betting, with over 2.5 goals and both teams to score a much more solid proposition.

Three of more goals have been scored in seven of 11 fixtures this term for both of these sides, who have just two clean sheets between them.

So there’s a strong case to be made for an entertaining contest here, and we’re also going for 2-2 in the correct score market which is distinctly possible with visitors Jong quickly establishing a reputation for being Eerste Divisie’s draw specialists.