The Eredivisie is heading for a thrilling climax. Never before in the history of the Dutch top flight the difference between the number one and the number three was just one point with only three matches to go.
FC Twente drew 1-1 against De Graafschap last week, thus handing PSV the best chances to win the Dutch title with only three matches to go. Number three Ajax also hope the win their first Dutch championship since 2004. Twente and PSV are level on points but the Eindhoven team hold the advantage of a better goal difference.
Twente kick off the third last match round in The Hague against fifth ranked ADO on Friday. The title holders will have to wait until Sunday to see the other title contenders play. Ajax are host to Excelsior and PSV travel to Feyenoord, who are eager to take revenge for the devastating 10-0 loss in Eindhoven earlier this season, even if that means helping arch rivals Ajax to an advantage in the title race.
FC Twente have lost their advantage over PSV when they drew 1-1 at De Graafschap last week. They visit ADO to kick off the third last match round of the Eredivisie on Friday. Twente are undefeated in their last eleven league matches against ADO and they won the last eight.
Despite drawing the last two League matches playmaker Theo Janssen rejects the suggestion that Twente suffer from a loss of confidence. “Against Roda (1-1) we played well and should have won and the draw against De Graafschap (1-1) is just one of these matches you play in the course of a long season. We should not exaggerate the disappointment. We’re still a very good team.”
There’s one thing that bothers Janssen however: “Everybody says Ajax are the in form team at the moment. They win their matches allright, but they are playing poorly and need the help of blundering goalkeepers to score. Ajax has the luck of a champion.” Janssen returns from a one match suspension on Friday.
Willem II got a 6-1 bashing at Feyenoord last week and their chances of staying alive in the Dutch top flight are merely academic. During the second half of the season the tricolores reduced the gap with second from bottom ranked VVV from six to five points. Any loss of points in the third last match round against AZ can be fatal for Willem II. VVV play host to sc Heerenveen on Saturday.
Willem II’s last win over AZ came on 25 January 2008, when they beat the Alkmaar team 3-0 in Tilburg. This win was followed by a five match losing streak. This season AZ defeated Willem II 3-0 in Alkmaar. Jonathas (pen.), Maarten Martens and Brett Holman scored.
This week Willem II appointed Jurgen Streppel as their new coach for next season. John Feskens, who replaced Gert Heerkes last week, will lead the tricolores in their last three Eredivisie matches. Heerkes left Willem II when the club did not extend his contract two weeks ago.
Heracles Almelo are still in contention for the play-offs to gain a Europa League ticket, while De Graafschap hope to make sure to avoid relegation play-offs on Saturday. Heracles were beaten 2-0 at home against PSV last week, but De Graafschap managed to grab a point at home against FC Twente.
Heracles and De Graafschap meet for the fiftieth time in a league match. The Alemlo squad won 13 of the 49 previous encounters and De Graafschap took 20 wins. This season the two clubs drew 1-1 in Doetinchem. Youssouf Hersi hit the target for the home team and Glynor Plet leveled the score.
Heracles have the best home percentage (78) of all Eredivisie clubs. Coach Peter Bosz’ team grabbed 31 of their 40 points on their own artificial turf.
Although Roda have already secured a spot in the Europa League play-offs coach Harm van Veldhoven does not want to settle down. “There’s still nine points to be won and we hope to end up fifth on the ranking. We’ll do whatever we can against NAC on Saturday.”
Roda doing well lately being undefeated in their last four matches. Earlier this season they won 2-1 against NAC in Breda, who only grabbed two wins in their last 13 league matches.
NAC’s Matthew Amoah is on 112 Eredivisie goals. If the Ghanaian striker hits the target he will surpass Feyenoord’s Jon Dahl Tomasson to top the list of current Eredivisie players.
SC Heerenveen visited Venlo three times before in the Eredivisie and only lost the last encounter, when they were beaten 3-1. This season Heerenveen defeated VVV 2-0 in Friesland. Bas Dost and Mika Värynen scored the goals.
The match will be special for Youssef El-Akchaoui. The defender played six matches for Heerenveen this season, but he moved on loan to VVV during the winter break. “I’d rather play for Heerenveen on Saturday”, he honestly admitted on Thursday. El-Akchaoui hopes to return to Heerenveen after this season, despite troubles with coach Ron Jans. “We’re all grown up people and we should be able to leave the past behind.”
Heerenveen are still in contention for the play-offs for a Europa League ticket, but the ‘Friezen’ will have to get to grips with playing on the road again. Heerenveen only took two points from their last four away matches.
Feyenoord seeking revenge for the devastating 10-0 loss at PSV earlier this season and PSV hope to survive the Rotterdam test in the title race. If PSV win, they will recapture the top rank, one point ahead of FC Twente, who beat ADO Den Haag 2-1. PSV has eight points less than last year at the same stage of the competition, but the clubs is ranked two spots higher on the table.
The referee seems to be in PSV’s advantage on Sunday. Feyenoord only won one of their seven matches with Björn Kuipers as referee and PSV are undefeated with eight wins and three draws when Kuipers blew the whistle.
In total Feyenoord played host to PSV times before. The home team won 24 matches, PSV 10 and the match ended in a draw 20 times.
FC Utrecht comes from a 3-0 loss against sc Heerenveen and is desperately seeking points to qualify for the play-offs for a Europa League ticket. Ton Du Chatiniers team lost its last four league matches.
Vitesse are doing better recently. Last week the Arnhem squad beat FC Groningen 2-1, but Vitesse is not doing so well in away games, having lost their last five.
Earlier this season FC Utrecht beat Vitesse 4-1 in Arnhem. Slobodan Rajkovic scored an own goal before Dries Mertens, Tim Cornelisse en Jacob Mulanga added three for the visitors. Marcus Pedersen scored the consolation goal for Vitesse.
“We believe in winning the title.” Ajax’ young Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen is optimistic. His club will play host to Excelsior on Sunday. Ajax has to win to get level in points with the current League leaders FC Twente, who beat ADO Den Haag 2-1 on Friday. If PSV defeats Feyenoord they will surpass Twente by one point on top of the league.
Excelsior visited Ajax 15 times and only took one point from all previous Eredivisie encounters. Earlier this season Ajax drew 2-2 at Excelsior, after having been 2-0 down at half time. Vurnon Anita was sent off in the first half, but his red card was dropped by the disciplinary committee.
With coach Frank de Boer on the bench Ajax won all its six home matches with a goal difference of 14-0. If Ajax win they will equal their record streak of clean sheets in home matches, which is seven.
FC Groningen want to secure a spot in the play-offs for a Europa League ticket, but they are struggling towards the end of the season. Last week the northerners lost 2-1 against Vitesse. NEC still hold hopes to qualify for the play-offs, but that’s far away at the moment.
NEC only won once in 23 previous visits to Groningen. The home team took twelve victories in the match ended in a draw ten times.
Earlier this season NEC beat Groningen 3-2 in Nijmegen. Björn Vleminckx scored a hat-trick in that match. The Belgian striker led the top scorers list for a long time, but Roda JC’s Mad Junker surpassed him when he scored his 20th.
Twente kick off the third last match round in The Hague against fifth ranked ADO on Friday. The title holders will have to wait until Sunday to see the other title contenders play. Ajax are host to Excelsior and PSV travel to Feyenoord, who are eager to take revenge for the devastating 10-0 loss in Eindhoven earlier this season, even if that means helping arch rivals Ajax to an advantage in the title race.
FC Twente have lost their advantage over PSV when they drew 1-1 at De Graafschap last week. They visit ADO to kick off the third last match round of the Eredivisie on Friday. Twente are undefeated in their last eleven league matches against ADO and they won the last eight.
Despite drawing the last two League matches playmaker Theo Janssen rejects the suggestion that Twente suffer from a loss of confidence. “Against Roda (1-1) we played well and should have won and the draw against De Graafschap (1-1) is just one of these matches you play in the course of a long season. We should not exaggerate the disappointment. We’re still a very good team.”
There’s one thing that bothers Janssen however: “Everybody says Ajax are the in form team at the moment. They win their matches allright, but they are playing poorly and need the help of blundering goalkeepers to score. Ajax has the luck of a champion.” Janssen returns from a one match suspension on Friday.
Willem II got a 6-1 bashing at Feyenoord last week and their chances of staying alive in the Dutch top flight are merely academic. During the second half of the season the tricolores reduced the gap with second from bottom ranked VVV from six to five points. Any loss of points in the third last match round against AZ can be fatal for Willem II. VVV play host to sc Heerenveen on Saturday.
Willem II’s last win over AZ came on 25 January 2008, when they beat the Alkmaar team 3-0 in Tilburg. This win was followed by a five match losing streak. This season AZ defeated Willem II 3-0 in Alkmaar. Jonathas (pen.), Maarten Martens and Brett Holman scored.
This week Willem II appointed Jurgen Streppel as their new coach for next season. John Feskens, who replaced Gert Heerkes last week, will lead the tricolores in their last three Eredivisie matches. Heerkes left Willem II when the club did not extend his contract two weeks ago.
Heracles Almelo are still in contention for the play-offs to gain a Europa League ticket, while De Graafschap hope to make sure to avoid relegation play-offs on Saturday. Heracles were beaten 2-0 at home against PSV last week, but De Graafschap managed to grab a point at home against FC Twente.
Heracles and De Graafschap meet for the fiftieth time in a league match. The Alemlo squad won 13 of the 49 previous encounters and De Graafschap took 20 wins. This season the two clubs drew 1-1 in Doetinchem. Youssouf Hersi hit the target for the home team and Glynor Plet leveled the score.
Heracles have the best home percentage (78) of all Eredivisie clubs. Coach Peter Bosz’ team grabbed 31 of their 40 points on their own artificial turf.
Although Roda have already secured a spot in the Europa League play-offs coach Harm van Veldhoven does not want to settle down. “There’s still nine points to be won and we hope to end up fifth on the ranking. We’ll do whatever we can against NAC on Saturday.”
Roda doing well lately being undefeated in their last four matches. Earlier this season they won 2-1 against NAC in Breda, who only grabbed two wins in their last 13 league matches.
NAC’s Matthew Amoah is on 112 Eredivisie goals. If the Ghanaian striker hits the target he will surpass Feyenoord’s Jon Dahl Tomasson to top the list of current Eredivisie players.
SC Heerenveen visited Venlo three times before in the Eredivisie and only lost the last encounter, when they were beaten 3-1. This season Heerenveen defeated VVV 2-0 in Friesland. Bas Dost and Mika Värynen scored the goals.
The match will be special for Youssef El-Akchaoui. The defender played six matches for Heerenveen this season, but he moved on loan to VVV during the winter break. “I’d rather play for Heerenveen on Saturday”, he honestly admitted on Thursday. El-Akchaoui hopes to return to Heerenveen after this season, despite troubles with coach Ron Jans. “We’re all grown up people and we should be able to leave the past behind.”
Heerenveen are still in contention for the play-offs for a Europa League ticket, but the ‘Friezen’ will have to get to grips with playing on the road again. Heerenveen only took two points from their last four away matches.
Feyenoord seeking revenge for the devastating 10-0 loss at PSV earlier this season and PSV hope to survive the Rotterdam test in the title race. If PSV win, they will recapture the top rank, one point ahead of FC Twente, who beat ADO Den Haag 2-1. PSV has eight points less than last year at the same stage of the competition, but the clubs is ranked two spots higher on the table.
The referee seems to be in PSV’s advantage on Sunday. Feyenoord only won one of their seven matches with Björn Kuipers as referee and PSV are undefeated with eight wins and three draws when Kuipers blew the whistle.
In total Feyenoord played host to PSV times before. The home team won 24 matches, PSV 10 and the match ended in a draw 20 times.
FC Utrecht comes from a 3-0 loss against sc Heerenveen and is desperately seeking points to qualify for the play-offs for a Europa League ticket. Ton Du Chatiniers team lost its last four league matches.
Vitesse are doing better recently. Last week the Arnhem squad beat FC Groningen 2-1, but Vitesse is not doing so well in away games, having lost their last five.
Earlier this season FC Utrecht beat Vitesse 4-1 in Arnhem. Slobodan Rajkovic scored an own goal before Dries Mertens, Tim Cornelisse en Jacob Mulanga added three for the visitors. Marcus Pedersen scored the consolation goal for Vitesse.
“We believe in winning the title.” Ajax’ young Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen is optimistic. His club will play host to Excelsior on Sunday. Ajax has to win to get level in points with the current League leaders FC Twente, who beat ADO Den Haag 2-1 on Friday. If PSV defeats Feyenoord they will surpass Twente by one point on top of the league.
Excelsior visited Ajax 15 times and only took one point from all previous Eredivisie encounters. Earlier this season Ajax drew 2-2 at Excelsior, after having been 2-0 down at half time. Vurnon Anita was sent off in the first half, but his red card was dropped by the disciplinary committee.
With coach Frank de Boer on the bench Ajax won all its six home matches with a goal difference of 14-0. If Ajax win they will equal their record streak of clean sheets in home matches, which is seven.
FC Groningen want to secure a spot in the play-offs for a Europa League ticket, but they are struggling towards the end of the season. Last week the northerners lost 2-1 against Vitesse. NEC still hold hopes to qualify for the play-offs, but that’s far away at the moment.
NEC only won once in 23 previous visits to Groningen. The home team took twelve victories in the match ended in a draw ten times.
Earlier this season NEC beat Groningen 3-2 in Nijmegen. Björn Vleminckx scored a hat-trick in that match. The Belgian striker led the top scorers list for a long time, but Roda JC’s Mad Junker surpassed him when he scored his 20th.
