AZ Alkmaar

vs

NEC Nijmegen

Preview

AZ Alkmaar (Home)

• AZ Alkmaar have won four and drawn four of their nine Eredivisie home games, losing just once (W4, D4, L1).
• AZ are unbeaten in three at home (W2, D1) and have an average of 2.22 goals per home match, scoring 20 in nine at home.

NEC Nijmegen (Away)

• NEC Nijmegen have conceded 20 goals in their ten Eredivisie away games, an average of 2.00 per game.
• NEC Nijmegen have won their last two away games, so they will be confident of getting a result at the weekend.
• NEC are in excellent form at the moment, going unbeaten in five in all competitions and winning three consecutively (W3, D2).

Head-to-Head

• NEC Nijmegen won 2-1 when these sides last met in the Eredivisie four months ago.
• The two sides have split the last five Eredivisie head-to-heads evenly (W2, D1, L2).
• Both average 1.0 goals per game in their last five head-to-head encounters.

Key Players

• Both teams can find the net as AZ’s attack has been flying recently with Troy Parrott netting four of AZ Alkmaar's last ten goals in their last five matches.
• Jizz Hornkamp leads the Eredivisie scoring charts for the hosts with ten in 17 games, and Kento Shiogai has seven in just 12 league appearances for NEC this term.

Betting Insights

• AZ are 1.71 favorites for the game, with the visitors priced around 4.3.
• The Over 2.5 goals market is coming in at a low 1.45, which looks short given AZ's home scoring rate and NEC's away concessions.

Prediction

• I will back the home team to edge it.
• The home-field advantage and fresh new coach bounce should see AZ edge a tight game.