On the other hand, the home side will be looking to end a run of five games without a win since their only victory of the 2022-23 campaign back in August.
Match preview
Feyenoord fell to an agonising 4-3 defeat against PSV Eindhoven when the heavyweights went head-to-head at the Philips Stadion two Sundays ago.
After taking the lead courtesy of Oussama Idrissi, Arne Slot's men went behind to goals from Jarrad Branthwaite and Cody Gakpo before drawing level through Danilo, after which Guus Til and Armando Obispo netted in the second half to render Orkun Kokcu's strike inconsequential.
De Stadionclub have now slipped to fourth place in the table as a result, two points behind the aforementioned PSV at the top of the pile.
Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing side who have been beaten in five straight editions of this fixture dating back to 2016.
Off the back of consecutive defeats on enemy territory leading up to this weekend's trip to Nijmegen, Sunday's visitors will be eager to get themselves back on track away from home.
NEC played out a share of the spoils for the fifth game running following a drab goalless stalemate against FC Utrecht on September 16.
Rogier Meijer's men were found wanting in front of goal once again and rode their luck en route to securing a point at the Stadion Galgenwaard.
Having amassed eight points from a possible 21 this term, the Eniesee are 11th in the Eredivisie standings, albeit only a point outside the top half.
With just one victory in their last 16 competitive matches on home turf, Sunday's hosts will need to turn things around in front of their fans to kickstart what has been a relatively underwhelming season to date.
NEC Eredivisie form:
W
D
D
D
D
D
Feyenoord Eredivisie form:
D
W
W
W
W
L
Feyenoord form (all competitions):
W
W
L
W
W
L
Team News
Philippe Sandler continues his spell on the treatment table due to an ankle injury, and the 25-year-old is ruled out for NEC Nijmegen.
With his last outing coming back in April, Mathias De Wolf remains sidelined with a muscle problem which is set to keep the Belgian out of Sunday's clash.
After both missing the hosts' most recent two matches, the duo of Jordy Bruijn and Joris Kramer are major injury doubts for this one.
Since his introduction to the starting XI, Oussama Idrissi has found the back of the net in each of his last two outings, making the forward one to keep an eye on.
Having recovered from Mononucleosis, Lutsharel Geertruida made his return to action for the Netherlands Under-21s during the international break and could return to the lineup for this one.
NEC possible starting lineup:
Cillessen; El Karouani, Verdonk, Marquez, Van Rooy; Schone, Duelund, Proper; Mattsson, Dimata, Tavsan
Feyenoord possible starting lineup:
Bijlow; Lopez, Hancko, Trauner, Pedersen; Kokcu, Timber; Idrissi, Dilrosun, Jahanbakhsh; Danilo