Nice v Vitesse background

Nice's Wesley Sneijder will be hoping to take on Vitesse for the first time in over a decade as his new side bid to tighten their grip on top spot in UEFA Europa League Group K.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• Nice drew their only previous games against Dutch opponents, 1-1 and 2-2 against Ajax in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round – enough to earn them an away-goals success.

• Vitesse have yet to win in four UEFA encounters with French clubs: W0 D1 L3 (L2 in France).

Form guide
• Nice kicked off Group K with their biggest UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League away win to date – 5-1 at Zulte Waregem.

• Nice have won only one of their last five European home fixtures: W1 D1 L3.

• Vitesse have gone six games without a European away win since a 1-0 UEFA Cup success at Rapid Bucureşti in October 2002 (D3 L3). Those results have taken on a pattern – scoring draw followed by defeat without scoring; if that pattern continues, they are due a draw at Nice.

• Beaten by Napoli in this season's UEFA Champions League play-offs, Nice made their UEFA Europa League group stage debut in 2016/17 but failed to reach the round of 32.

• Fifth in the Netherlands last term, Arnhem-based Vitesse are featuring in the group stage of a UEFA competition for the first time having won the Dutch Cup, their maiden major trophy.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Arnhem to Nice is around 900km.

• The game is taking place the day after Vitesse's Luc Castaignos turns 25.

• Nice's Wesley Sneijder is Dutch; he last faced Vitesse with Ajax in a Dutch league game in December 2006, his side losing 4-2. His side had won all seven of his previous meetings with Vitesse, Sneijder scoring twice in the process.

The coaches
• Former Switzerland midfielder Lucien Favre has been in charge at Nice since May 2016. He made his name as a coach by winning back-to-back Swiss titles with Zürich, and subsequently enhanced his reputation with spells at Hertha Berlin and Mönchengladbach in Germany.

• Vitesse coach since 2016, leading them to their historic Dutch Cup triumph last season, Surinam-born Henk Fraser was capped seven times by the Netherlands as a defender, spending the bulk of his playing career at Feyenoord, where he was later a youth coach. He took his first senior job at Den Haag from 2014–16.