NEC Nijmegen vs Fortuna Sittard Predictions

NEC Nijmegen’s reward for beating Eredivisie side Excelsior away in the last round of the KNVB Beker has seen them rewarded with a home tie against another top flight Dutch side in the form of Fortuna Sittard. The visitors thrashed Helmond Sport 5-0 in the last round, but should face a tougher test on Thursday night against another Eerste Divisie side, one that is challenging for promotion.

NEC Nijmegen were at home against one of their fellow promotion rivals last weekend, but ended up being thumped 5-1 by a TOP Oss side that were clinical in front of goal. Smeets opened the scoring on the half hour mark for the visitors, and that goal turned out to be the only one in the first forty-five minutes.

The hosts needed a positive start to the second half, but instead fell two goals behind via an own goal from Dijkstra just a minute after the restart. Stuij van den Herik added a third goal in the fifty-fifth minute to end any hopes of a comeback for the home side, and teammate Dogan made it 4-0 on the hour mark.

Smeets scored his brace in the eighty-second minute to put TOP Oss 5-0 up away from home, but Okita did manage to pull a consolation goal back in the eighty-fourth to see the game end 5-1. NEC were completely outplayed at the weekend and will have to put in a much better defensive performance against Fortuna Sittard. Perhaps the looming midweek KNVB Beker tie had the NEC players focus and played a part in the heavy defeat at home, but we will only be able to tell when we see how they perform on Thursday.

Fortuna Sittard put in a decent performance during their narrow 2-1 defeat against Vitesse last weekend, and at this moment in time look the most likely of the three newly promoted clubs to have the best chance of remaining in the top flight of Dutch football for another season.

A twelfth minute strike from van der Werff saw Vitesse take an early lead, and on the balance of play they certainly deserved to be 1-0 up heading into the break. However, a late André Vidigal in stoppage time saw the side back on level terms at half time.

Fortuna Sittard gave as good as they got during the second half, but it was Vitesse who made it 2-1 in the sixty-sixth minute through Bero. The scoreline remained the same and the hosts claimed all three points, but on another day, with some clinical finishing in the final third, and Fortuna Sittard would certainly have earned at least a point.

Both teams form has been mixed in recent weeks and we’re expecting both sets of players to be looking forward to the distraction of the KNVB Beker, despite their own hopes to both be playing in the Eredivisie next season.

We’re confident that NEC Nijmegen will win and that both teams will score on Thursday, with the hosting claiming the victory by two goals to one. NEC Nijmegen have won the last five meetings between the two clubs, and six out of the last seven meetings between the pair have seen both teams score. Three of NEC Nijmegen’s last six matches have seen both teams score, while four of Fortuna Sittard’s last six matches have seen both teams score.