Nijmegen, Netherlands (My Sportsbook) - Twente's Eredivisie title hopes took a major hit on Friday as the club was held to a 1-1 draw by NEC, leaving the team eight points back of leaders AZ Alkmaar with an extra game played.

Marko Arnautovic opened the scoring in the 23rd minute for Twente, but John Goossens leveled the match with 11 minutes to play, giving AZ an opportunity to all but wrap up the title on Saturday with a win over Den Haag, which would give AZ an 11-point lead with five games to play.

Twente appeared to be on its way to three points midway through the first half when Kenneth Perez fired a shot towards goal that deflected off of Arnautovic and found its way into the bottom right corner of the net.

NEC goalkeeper Gabor Babos was unlucky to concede the opening goal, but he did well to keep his side within one later in the half when he parried a close- range shot from Eljero Elia, and Arnautovic smacked the rebound over the net.

Elia had the ball in the net for Twente in the second half, but it was wiped out for offsides, while the home side was able to snatch a point 11 minutes from time.

Bas Sibum picked out Goossens inside the area and the striker brought the ball down and ripped a shot into the upper right corner.

NEC was reduced to 10 men in the 88th minute when Youssef El Akchaoui was sent off for pushing Romano Denneboom as the pair chased a ball near the sidelines, but there was not enough time left for the visitors to make their advantage count.

Third-placed Ajax visits Roda on Sunday, while Heerenveen looks to strengthen its hold on fourth place by beating Heracles on Saturday.

PSV Eindhoven travels to Sparta in an effort to secure a European spot, while Utrecht entertains Groningen, Feyenoord invades Volendam, Willem II hosts NAC and Graafschap travels to Vitesse.