Utrecht vs PSV Match Preview
FC Utrecht and PSV both have to regroup after a disappointing defeat last weekend. PSV lost the league lead when they got beaten 1-0 by FC Twente at home and Utrecht had an off-day losing 1-0 at ADO Den Haag. Last season PSV drew 0-0 at FC Utrecht.
Utrecht have a bad recent home record against PSV. Their only win in the last 17 editions came on 2 March 2008: 3-1. On Sunday coach Ton du Chatinier will count on Ricky van Wolfswinkel to score. The prolific striker is the first FC Utrecht player to have scored 10 goals from the first 12 Eredivisie matches in 35 years.
Of all PSV strikers the Utrecht defense fears Danny Koevermans most. He scored a total of six goals in eight Eredivisie matches against the ‘Domstedelingen’. Chances on Koevermans being in the starting lineup are slim however. The striker only played seven matches of which he came on as a substitute five times this season. Utrecht born PSV midfielder Ibrahim Afellay scored four times in ten matches against Utrecht, but the real man to watch is Balázs Dzsudzsák, who is PSV’s Most Valuable Player with 5 goals and ten assists this season.
Utrecht vs PSV Match Report
Balázs Dzsudzsák was the most important player for PSV again on Sunday. The Hungarian international scored twice in the hard fought 2-1 win at FC Utrecht. PSV played with ten men for almost an hour because Jonathan Reis received a red card in the 33rd minute. Utrecht also ended the match with ten after Jacob Lensky got a red card in the 74th minute.
Reis was sent off because he put an elbow into Alje Schut’s chest in an air struggle. A few minutes earlier Dzsudzsák scored the first goal from a rebound after a Ola Toivionen header. Utrecht did not take advantage from Reis’ red card and only managed to put some pressure on the PSV defense after striker Frank Demouge came on in the second half.
When Lensky was sent off because he fouled Ola Toivonen in the box and Dzsudzsák converted the penalty for 2-0, the match seemed to be over, but Demouge managed to put Utrecht on the scoreboard with a beautiful bicycle kick in the top corner in the 81st minute. The home team furiously attacked in the last nine minutes, but goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson held them off. PSV stays second on the ranking trailing FC Twente by one point.