With the title race as good as over, according to Opta’s prediction model, PSV’s players and staff shifted their focus to finishing in second. Later, Feyenoord right-back Givairo Read spoke out about attacking PSV for the second spot, which guarantees qualification for the league phase of the UEFA Champions League.
The Rotterdam team put their money where their mouths were with a midweek win against FC Groningen. This put them five points behind a PSV side that just had its confidence take a big knock.
To start their charge at the reigning champions, Robin van Persie’s men first had to deal with a tricky meeting with AZ in Alkmaar.
Recent history leaned in Feyenoord’s favour with AZ failing to win the previous four Eredivisie games and the Rotterdam side winning the six meetings with AZ prior to Saturday’s outing.
A sunny Alkmaar was the setting for a meeting between the third and fifth-placed teams of the Eredivisie, which many fans were hoping would serve up a fine bit of entertaining football.
But as the Dutch saying goes, those people would come home from a cold fun fair. The match between AZ and Feyenoord left much to be desired regarding entertainment and quality. An own goal from Zico Buurmeester, who headed the ball over stand-in goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet into his own net, would be the only goal all afternoon.
The own goal would account for a peculiar stat: Feyenoord became the first team in the last 15 seasons to win an Eredivisie match without recording a single shot on target.
The win would also put Feyenoord within two points of PSV, who’d meet FC Groningen the same night.
The Pride of the North had re-ignited a flame over the past few weeks with some positive results, which propelled them from the bottom of the packed midfield to the very top. Now defending a spot in the European football playoffs, a fantastic foe would visit the Euroborg.
With three wins in their previous six Eredivisie games, FC Groningen had matched their win total between August 18th and February 7th. Meanwhile, PSV lost their hopes of a second consecutive title after winning just three Eredivisie games in 2025.
Peter Bosz’s team proved early on that they’d not lost their touch as Malik Tillman, who’d returned from injury and got his first start since recovering, and Ivan Perisic helped PSV to a 2-0 lead within 30 minutes with two skillful goals.
However, FC Groningen would put up a valiant fight, highlighted by the creative brain of Italian-Dutch midfielder Luciano Valente. Two weeks removed from his debut for the Dutch U21 team, Valente showcased his talent with a team-leading two created chances, 13 passes in the final third, 3 successful dribbles, and 3 shots.
Valente also accounted for the assist for Dave Kwakman’s 2-1, who curled the ball behind Walter Benitez and scored his second goal of the season.
It was a fun match for 20-year-old Kwakman for more than one reason. The Volendam native played against his old neighbour, Joey Veerman. The midfielders' mothers and sisters are best friends, and it made for a lovely interview afterwards.
“He was amazing today,” Veerman said about Kwakman. “I believe he got fouled about 20 times – he was really good today.”
“I’m normally not of the goals,” Kwakman said as he reacted to his goal, and Veerman laughed next to him. “It’s nice how he says that. He had a lot of these first touches, and he used his body really well. He’s not my little neighbour anymore, he grew up,” Veerman said with a smile.
Smiling was Veerman’s right more than Kwakman’s after the match, as Johan Bakayoko headed in the decider in the 88th minute. PSV held onto their 5-point lead over Feyenoord after a testy win in Groningen. The home side lost control of their crucial eighth spot in the standings, which could propel Groningen into the playoffs for European football.
At the top of the Eredivisie, Ajax held onto their lead as NAC Breda, one of only two teams to beat Ajax this Eredivisie season, were beaten 3-1 in Amsterdam.
Slovakian wunderkind Leo Sauer, last week’s subject of our weekly FlashFocus feature, opened the scoring for the visitors after nine minutes with a cunning effort from the edge of the box.
However, it wouldn’t be enough for NAC to reach half-time with the lead. In the absence of goalkeeper Daniel Bielica, Roy Kortsmit was given his first Eredivisie start in seven years. The former Sparta stopper made his mark in the first half already when Ajax striker Don-Angelo Konadu, who was given his first start in the Eredivisie, was taken down by Kortsmit with what resembled an ippon from the world of judo.
Kenneth Taylor, Ajax’s joint-top scorer with eight goals, stepped up and converted from the spot in the 32nd minute, two minutes before Steven Berghuis earned Ajax its first lead after a nifty combination between Konadu and Taylor.
After celebrating the return of the injured Wout Weghorst, 16-year-old Jorthy Mokio wrote history by becoming Ajax's second youngest goal scorer in Eredivisie history. Mokio’s age of 16 years and 346 days has only ever been bettered by Clarence Seedorf, who was 16 years and 343 days old when he scored his first Eredivisie goal.
The seven games and battles Farioli spoke about during the homecoming after the PSV match have now become six as Ajax edge closer and closer to a 37th Eredivisie title. As Farioli always does, however, he would not entertain any conversation about a potential title. “Six games to go, so 18 more points to earn,” the Italian boss told ESPN after the win.
The top 3 of the Eredivisie, which now consists of the so-called ‘Traditional Top 3’, were three of the five teams to win their games this past weekend. It meant the chasing pack had disappointing weekends, but this wasn’t the case for one team.
FC Utrecht are the only remaining team to boast an unbeaten record in the Eredivisie this season, but it didn’t look like it would last for most of the first half against Go Ahead Eagles. The seventh-placed Eagles gave Utrecht hell in Sunday’s game, largely thanks to the yet again excelling Finnish starlet, Oliver Antman.
Antman is the league leader in assists and entered the game with 12 assists to his name. However, two assists in the first half increased his total to 14 in 27 games. The Finnish midfielder set up Oliver Edvardsen with his first assist in the 14th minute, before helping Mathis Suray to his goal just three minutes later.
Go Ahead Eagles dominated the game and had Utrecht manager Ron Jans scrambling for help. The experienced boss decided to change his team in two positions before the 40th minute, with an irate Souffian El Karouani and Alonzo Engwanda making way for Oscar Fraulo and Kollbeinn Finnson.
As a miracle worker often has, the changes soon started to pay off as Utrecht, who had been nowhere prior to the 40th minute, scored two lightning-quick goals before half-time to even things out in Deventer. Yoann Cathline beat Jari De Busser with an effort from distance, before Miguel Rodriguez got lucky when a ricocheted ball came his way, and the Spaniard got to finish an easy 1-on-1 with De Busser.
As entertaining as the first half was from the Eagles’ side, the second half couldn’t have been more different. The two sides produced a first half with a total xGOT (xG generated by shots on target) of 2.37, whereas the second half produced a measly 0.03. Mathis Suray was the only player to come close to finishing off Utrecht, but the Belgian’s effort smashed against the crossbar.
Neither team gained nor lost much with the point, especially considering the lackluster performances from rivals FC Twente and AZ. On Saturday night, Twente hosted Fortuna Sittard in a brutally cagey match in Enschede that ended 1-1.
FC Twente dominated the first half against the Limburg team, but could only force a breakthrough via a penalty and Sem Steijn’s 23rd goal of the season. The ‘Tukkers’ kept Fortuna silent throughout the first half, but were left bitterly disappointed when Brazilian centre-half Rodrigo Guth earned Fortuna a point in the 92nd minute.
The only other winners in the top half of the Eredivisie were sc Heerenveen. Robin van Persie’s former team played just their second match under coach Robin Veldman and dominated lowly Willem II in a 3-1 win in Frisia.
Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu and centre-half Sam Kersten, who scored his first professional goal in his 217th game, put Heerenveen up 2-0 after 31 minutes against a toothless Willem II. The Frisians fired 15 shots at Thomas Didillon-Hodl’s goal in the first half alone, but could not continue this trampling style of football after the break.
With the foot taken off the gas, Heerenveen let Willem II back in the game, but not before adding a third and deciding goal in the 66th minute through Ilias Sebaoui. Willem II hit back once via Jesse Bosch and an assist from Emilio Kehrer, the younger brother of AS Monaco’s Thilo Kehrer, but couldn’t prevent a sixth consecutive Eredivisie loss.
Meanwhile, Heerenveen have taken Groningen’s eighth spot in the table and now possess the (current) final ticket for the playoffs for European football.
Thanks to NAC Breda’s defeat in Amsterdam, Willem II’s loss would not hurt the Tilburg side too much. Who will have endured some hurt this past weekend, were RKC Waalwijk.
The struggling team from the South of the Netherlands faced off against Heracles in their own Mandemakers Stadion in Waalwijk, an opponent RKC knew they’d have to beat in order to maintain the challenge for survival.
The home side created the better chances against Heracles, who announced the upcoming arrival of their new head coach, Bas Sibum. However, they could not find their way to a goal after a heroic interception from Jannes Wieckhoff and an unbelievable miss from Polish striker Oskar Zawada, eventually only grabbing a point from a 0-0 draw.
The loss meant RKC would finish the week equal on points with Almere City, who produced a stellar second-half comeback to snatch a point from PEC Zwolle.
The home side forgot to reward itself for a good first half and found themselves down 2-0 at the halfway point thanks to goals from Anouar El Azzouzzi and Dylan Vente, even though Almere City had generated a total xG of 1.73 – almost a whole point more than PEC’s 0.76.
As Almere outperformed their opponents again after the break, Iraqi Como loanee Ali Jasim and Frenchman Junior Kadile earned the home side a well-earned point as Almere City stayed unbeaten for the third game in a row – their longest such streak in a year.
Winners of the Week
Another team that established a rare unbeaten streak were Sparta Rotterdam. Under the guidance of the returned coach Maurice Steijn, Sparta have now gone five Eredivisie games unbeaten after beating NEC Nijmegen 2-0 in Rotterdam.
The home side finished the first half without a shot on goal but with the lead after Ajax loanee Kristian Hlynsson’s header hit the post, but ricocheted into the NEC goal after hitting goalkeeper Robin Roefs’ thigh.
After Vito van Crooij got sent off with his second yellow card, Nokkvi Thorisson decided the game in Sparta’s favour with a thunderous shot at the near post in the 84th minute. Sparta’s fifth consecutive unbeaten game made this their best streak since early 2022, and it made Sparta jump from 15th to 12th in the table.
From relegation terrors to fighting for a ticket for the European playoffs – Sparta Rotterdam are beating every friend’s and foe’s wildest expectations.
Losers of the Week
Knowing Willem II are in terrible shape and with a winnable game at hand, RKC Waalwijk failed to do themselves a huge favour in the fight against relegation. A dreary 0-0 draw could’ve been turned into a win on several occasions, were it not for a black-and-white or even divine intervention to keep RKC five points adrift from safety.
German full-back Jannes Wieckhoff saved Heracles with a truly fantastic intervention at the far post, whilst Oskar Zawada made every footballer’s worst dream come true by missing a sitter in the second half. It could’ve been the goal which got RKC within touching distance of Willem II, but the difference to their noisy neighbours remains five points with just six games remaining.
Goal of the Week
With not too many truly eye-catching goals having been scored this past weekend, why not go for the best story of them all?
Sam Kersten made his professional debut for second division club FC Den Bosch as an 18-year-old in December 2016, but never scored at the professional level. Even at the youth level for Jong Brabant United, Kersten was unable to score a goal.
When a rebound fell exactly his way against Willem II, Kersten did what could only have felt unnatural to the defender: he scored his first goal in his 208th professional league game. The celebration looked a tad awkward, but it made sense: “It even surprised me,” Kersten told ESPN after the match.
Team of the Week
After their 3-1 win against Willem II, sc Heerenveen are this week's main source of top performers. Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu leads the line after his opening goal, 4 shots, 6 touches in Willem II's box, and 8 won duels. Nicolaescu is joined by Sam Kersten after his first professional goal, 7 clearances, and 2 interceptions.
Their captain and teammate Luuk Brouwers is this week's player of the week. Brouwers was taken off after the first half, but still proved to be a handful for Willem II with his 2 shots, 100% passing accuracy, 2 created chances, and 3 clearances in the opening 45 minutes.
Ajax and Feyenoord both deliver two players to this week's Top XI. Steven Berghuis (1 goal, 8 crosses, 23 passes in the final third) and Kenneth Taylor (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 created chances) were crucial in Ajax's 3-1 win over NAC Breda, while Gernot Trauner (4 interceptions, 10 clearances) and Timon Wellenreuther (5 saves, clean sheet) earned their team a hard-fought win over AZ.
Malik Tillman (1 goal, 12 duels won, 5 tackles won) is the sole PSV player in the line-up, while Mathis Suray, Jannes Wieckhoff, and Mike Eerdhuijzen represent Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles Almelo, and Sparta Rotterdam. Suray accounted for the 2-0 besides 3 shots on target, 2 won tackles, and 2 crosses, while Jannes Wieckhoff stole the show with his defensive heroics (5 tackles, 3 interceptions) and Mike Eerdhuijzen led Sparta in passes (60), duels won (8), aerial duels won (4), tackles won (3), interceptions (3), and touches (86).