Roda JC vs NEC Nijmegen Predictions

Promotion hopefuls Roda JC and NEC Nijmegen square off at Parkstad Limburg Stadion this Saturday night, in what undoubtedly looks to be the highlight of the Eerste Divisie fixtures on match day four.

Roda JC began the new season impressively with successive wins over defending champions Jong Ajax (2-1) and Almere City (1-2), however their momentum was brought to an abrupt halt last week by FC Twente who proved too good in landing a 3-1 victory at De Grolsch Veste.

It was a blow for Robert Molenaar’s charges, though six points from a possible nine can still be considered a decent start for the Kerkrade outfit – and they won’t be the last team to come away from Twente empty handed this term.

They’ll need to get back on track this week nonetheless if they’re to maintain genuine hopes of grabbing an automatic promotion spot, as another three points dropped could see them nearer mid table than the summit of the Eerste Divisie.

Of course it’s still early days, but solid promotion candidates have to consistently win against the other big teams in the league, and NEC are themselves in the mix for a return to Eredivisie this season.

Nijmegen have started incredibly slowly but they do have seven points from their first three outings after beating Jong Utrecht (1-2) and Dordrecht (1-0) in the past fortnight.

It would be folly to think that there isn’t plenty more to come from Jack de Gier’s side, and they’ll be confident of making further progress at Parkstad Limburg Stadion this weekend. A win here for NEC could lift them into the automatic promotion places, and they’ll be mightily hard to shake off if they manage to get a foothold at the top of the table.

These teams meet for the first time in two seasons, and they have a lengthy history with 50 matches played previously. Roda JC have the best of the overall head to head with 25 wins to NEC’s 16, but Nijmegen did pull off a league double in the 2016/17 campaign.

NEC went really close to promotion last season and they haven’t lost in nine games heading into Saturday’s clash.

That makes them difficult to back against, but by the same token, Roda JC should be formidable opponents at home and in Eerste Divisie top scorer Mario Engels, they have a potent weapon in their ranks.

We think this will be a really close match and can envisage both teams giving little away. Recent fixtures between the pair have been fairly quiet in terms of goalmouth action, with fewer than 2.5 goals featuring in four of the last six meetings.

That’s the value call here for what should be a fascinating spectacle, and we’re also going to supplement this bet with a small wager on 1-1 in the correct score market.