Joep Smeets: Don’t Sleep On The Eredivisie This Weekend

Our man in Amsterdam, Joep Smeets (well, he’s kinda close), breaks down a key weekend in the Dutch league for us.

The Eredivisie is entering its final stretch and we are in between the two weekends Dutch football fans have been looking forward to since the winter break. Before last night, it was:

Twente has lost some of its initial flair but have so far managed to keep grinding out wins, mostly inspired by the absurd goal scoring ability of Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz. Ajax had been in fine form, not having dropped a point and having scored 16 in their 6 games since the winter break (without conceding any). PSV had been struggling, conceding a late equalizer at home a few weeks back to Sparta and flat out losing against NAC last week. They had dropped 5 points in their last 4 games.

Last weekend’s Ajax- PSV, which all of you of course saw, was naturally billed as the first of two games that would decide the title race. It was to be Ajax’ chance to claw their way back into the title race – or at the very least the race for second place and a Champions League qualification spot. Conversely, it would be PSV’s chance to get rid of Ajax once and for all. That didn’t happen.

PSV have long been both admired and loathed for its thrifty, effective brand of football. But last night they were wasteful, and it was Ajax who hit relentlessly on the counter break. Leaving the ball to PSV in the early stages of the game, Ajax scored first from a dead ball situation. Then, Urby Emanuelson, lately on the fringes of the squad and reportedly for sale this summer, cut inside from the left and absolutely hammered one past Isaksson into the far corner. The second half saw PSV pressing some more and Ajax easily capitalizing on the break to the tune of two more goals.

The 4-1 drubbing puts Ajax within a point of second place PSV. Still leading the table, however, is McClaren’s FC Twente, now five points ahead of PSV and six ahead of Ajax.

And this is where it gets good;

Saturday, 19:45 local time, PSV hosts Twente.

So PSV has been unimpressive lately and might have to do without captain Affelay, who will most likely get suspended for his actions against Ajax. Twente on the other hand, even though they are leading by five points, have been far from convincing. They squeeked past relegation bound RKC 0-1, got lucky against a very poor Vitesse and have generally been less exciting than in the first half of the season.

Interestingly, PSV now fields two of the midfielders from the successful Twente side of two years ago, which was coached by now-PSV manager Fred Rutten. A home win for his side and PSV will be within one game of Twente. Ajax visits last place RKC and shouldn’t have too much trouble in spite of a few key suspensions.

Ajax would be clear favorites when looking at current form and the remaining schedule – both PSV and Twente still have to play renascent AZ. They need PSV to do their part on Saturday. If they don’t, Twente could very well have enough of a cushion to survive their tough home stretch. It would mean the second season in a row one of the Dutch traditional Top Three wouldn’t win the league. The last time that happened? The 1957/58 and 1958/59 seasons.