PSV Narrow Gap on Ajax After Slow Start Against FC Twente, While AZ Slip Again

Current Eredivisie champions PSV Eindhoven have narrowed the deficit to league leaders Ajax to six points following a victory in Enschede.

After Ajax suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat at the hands of FC Utrecht over the weekend, PSV seized the chance to reduce the gap to the Amsterdam club with a win against FC Twente.

A shaky start at the Grolsch Veste didn’t bode well for Peter Bosz’s title ambitions—American right-back Richard Ledezma’s careless error in possession in the first minute allowed Naci Unuvar to find Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who scored a quick-fire opener.

PSV responded just ten minutes later when Ivan Perisic calmly finished a chance set up by a superb first touch from Guus Til. The visitors hit the woodwork twice and saw Twente goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall expertly deny what seemed a certain goal just after Perisic’s equaliser, preventing them from taking the lead.

PSV often looked to be in complete control against FC Twente, and eight minutes into the second half, they took a 2-1 lead when Perisic turned provider for Guus Til, who netted his tenth goal of the Eredivisie season. Luuk de Jong then killed off the contest with a simple goal against his former team.

With four matches left in the season, Ajax will maintain a six-point advantage heading into this weekend’s fixture against a resurgent Sparta Rotterdam and their former manager Maurice Steijn.

AZ Drop More Points

AZ Alkmaar have now gone seven consecutive Eredivisie matches without a win, with NAC Breda holding the cup finalists to a 1-1 draw in Alkmaar.

Slovakian prodigy Leo Sauer scored the opener from a corner in the second half, while AZ managed to equalise in the 96th minute thanks to a sensational bicycle kick from Mexx Meerdink.

This draw brings NAC’s tally to 32 points—eight clear of relegation-threatened Willem II and just two shy of the crucial 34 needed for safety in the Eredivisie.

AZ, on the other hand, are struggling to bounce back from their recent 4-2 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles in the KNVB Beker final and need to find form quickly as the playoffs for Conference League qualification loom—having secured just one win in all competitions since March 1st (a 1-0 triumph against Spurs on March 6th).