- Juventus FC have won six, drawn two and lost two of their last ten matches in all competitions.
- NEC Nijmegen have won three, drawn two and lost five of their last ten in all competitions.
Juve have the class edge in Europa League group-phase opener
The odds-on price for Juventus FC to defeat Eredivisie outfit NEC at home in their UEFA Europa League 2026-2027 opener looks about right as La Vecchia Signora are the clear top dogs in Serie A at the moment. Their odds of 6/25 are considerably shorter, but they do represent the correct result for this fixture.
It's been a patchy start to the Eredivisie 2026/2027 season for the Dutch club, who have won one, drawn one and lost three of their last five. They have won just one and lost two of their three away matches in that time, which hardly suggests that they can take the edge to Italy on Thursday.
It has been a solid if unspectacular start to the Serie A 2026/2027 campaign for Juventus, who have beaten AC Parma 2-0 at home, drawn 1-1 with AC Milan and lost 3-2 to Sassuolo on the road in their previous three. But that's a pretty good return for any side to make in the first few weeks and they should come out of this fixture as victors.
An interesting stylistic clash
Luciano Spalletti likes his Juventus side to have control of the ball in a flexible 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system and they look strong in building up play, overloading wide areas and applying pressure. But NEC will arrive with the opposite intention of causing chaos and overloading the box with numbers in the final third.
Dick Schreuder's 3-4-2-1 system is positive in possession and turns aggressive with the two wing-backs bombing forward and the two No10s driving the pace of the game. Tjaronn Chery, who has scored two of NEC's six goals in the last five, is the best spark they have.
Juventus should be able to manage the wide areas and space behind the advanced wing-backs in what will be a chess game where the opening moves will be key. A home win with under 3 goals looks the sharpest angle in the fixture, although it could be stretched by NEC's front-foot nature.
