FC Utrecht Reserves vs NEC Nijmegen Predictions

The pressure will be on Eerste Divisie promotion favourites NEC to land the three points on Monday evening when they take on last season’s bottom side Jong Utrecht at Sportpark De Westmaat.

Surprisingly beaten in the 2017/18 Play-offs by Emmen, NEC looked for all money to be putting those bad memories behind them on match day one, as goals either side of half time from Anass Achahbar and Sven Braken put them 2-0 to the good against Cambuur.

But the atmosphere was to turn sour at Goffertstadion as the hosts threw away their healthy advantage – Cambuur escaping with a 2-2 draw at full time courtesy of an own goal from Frank Sturing and a 94^th minute strike from Emmanuel Mbende.

It was a really poor start under the circumstances for a team that was so ruthlessly efficient at home last term. NEC won 15 and drew four at Goffertstadion in 2017/18 making them the only unbeaten side in the league on home soil.

And although they stretched that unbeaten streak last Friday, there’s no doubt that the draw will have felt like a defeat for the Nijmegen faithful and new boss Jack de Gier whose charges were cruising and in control with minutes left to play.

Fortunately for NEC and de Gier, match day two presents the best possible opportunity for them to get properly up and running – and a game that we expect them to win comfortably.

Jong Utrecht were rooted to the foot of the table last season, collecting just 27 points from their 38 league matches which was nine points shy of the second worst club Helmond Sport.

Fortunately for Jong, the current freeze on relegation to Tweede Divisie meant that there was no severe consequence to their dismal showing, and boss Robin Pronk has been retained for the current campaign to try and spark some improvement to the reserve outfit.

There was no pick me up for Pronk on match day one however, as Jong were blown out of sight 5-0 by Go Ahead Eagles at De Adelaarshorst. The Eagles absolutely dominated what was an extremely lop-sided encounter, and on the evidence of that alone, Pronk and his side will have to pull out a minor miracle on Monday if they’re to take anything from NEC.

Last season’s head to head also suggests that the hosts have plenty to find, as NEC strolled to cosy victories by two goal margins both home and away in 2017/18 (2-0 and 1-3).

Jong will hope that Cambuur’s late heroics have dented the confidence of their forthcoming opponents, and they’ll also take some comfort that NEC were far from solid on the road last term with eight defeats suffered in 19 games.

Nonetheless, we feel NEC are on a completely different level to Jong, and time should tell that they’ve improved further over pre-season with the arrivals of new club captain Rens van Eijden and frontman Achahbar who of course netted last week.

So we’re confidently backing NEC for success here and to cover a one goal handicap as they did at Sportpark De Westmaat back in March. Seven of Jong’s home defeats last season were by more than one goal, and the same applies to five of NEC’s seven away wins last term.

In terms of correct score, we think 1-4 is realistic and a decent pick at the prices.