NEC Nijmegen vs Groningen Prediction

Right then, let's fire up the braai and get stuck into this one! NEC Nijmegen welcomes Groningen to town, and if you're looking for defensive masterpieces, you've come to the wrong place, boet!

Looking at the league table, Groningen is sitting pretty in 5th with 19 points, while NEC is lagging behind in 8th on 15 points. The visitors have been the better side this season, no doubt about it.

But here's where it gets interesting - NEC's home form is like a proper South African BBQ: plenty of meat on the fire! They're scoring 2.75 goals per game at home, which is fantastic stuff. The problem? They're also letting in 2.25 goals per game on their own patch. It's basically attack, attack, attack and hope for the best!

Groningen's away form tells a similar story. They're netting 1.8 goals on their travels but conceding 2.2. These two teams basically forgot that defending is part of football!

Recent results back this up perfectly. NEC's last few games have been goal fests - that 3-3 draw with Twente, 2-2 with PEC Zwolle, and even in defeat they're usually involved in high-scoring games. Groningen aren't much different - they drew 1-1 with Twente recently and their games tend to have goals at both ends.

The head-to-head record screams goals too. Seven out of their last nine meetings have gone over 2.5 goals, and both teams have scored in six of those nine encounters. NEC actually has a decent home record against Groningen (2-1-0), but every one of those games saw plenty of action.

When you've got two teams that love attacking but can't defend to save themselves, you know what's coming. The goal expectancy numbers are showing around 4.5 goals expected in this match, which tells you everything you need to know.

Both teams will likely score, and there should be plenty of goals to keep everyone entertained. This has all the makings of a proper thriller!