PSV Eindhoven opened up a seven-point lead at the top of the Eredivisie with their biggest win of the season as nearest rivals AZ Alkmaar and Twente both drew.

PSV kept up their 100% record with a 6-0 thrashing of Heracles, who were reduced to 10 men in the 20th minute when Justin Hoogma brought down Guus Til as the striker was shaping to score.

Luuk de Jong converted the penalty, but it took until the 44th minute for PSV to add to their tally through Jerdy Schouten, before Peter Bosz’s side bagged four more in the second half.

AZ conceded a stoppage-time equaliser at home to Excelsior when Cisse Sandra headed in a rebound after Mathew Ryan had saved from Nikolas Agrafiotis. Mayckel Lahdo had broken the deadlock in the 72nd minute with a shot from a corner, but it took a VAR replay to confirm it had crept over the line.

Twente had to settle for a point in Utrecht after midfielder Michel Sadilek was sent off midway through the second half for a second yellow card. Oscar Fraulo had given Utrecht the lead against the run of play with a brilliant volley in the 23rd minute, before Sem Steijn equalised from the penalty spot after half an hour.

Gimenez blunder

A second-half goal by Bart Nieuwkoop, bundling in a rebound after Ramiz Zerrouki’s shot struck the post, sealed a hard-fought win for Feyenoord at RKC Waalwijk.

In doing so Nieuwkoop spared the blushes of top scorer Santiago Gímenez, who had earlier botched an attempted Panenka from the penalty spot when his shot drifted over the crossbar.

Feyenoord head coach Arie Slot said afterwards: “I didn’t know he was going to do that, otherwise I would have talked him out of it. It’s absolutely the wrong way.”

Ajax climbed up to 11th place with their second win in four days under new temporary coach John van ‘t Schip against Heerenveen.

Steven Bergwijn and Brian Brobbey gave the Amsterdammers a two-goal cushion before Luuk Brouwers pulled one back on the stroke of half-time. Two late strikes by substitute Chuba Akpom made the scoreline comfortable.

Eagles soar

Go Ahead Eagles opened up a three-point margin in fifth place thanks to a handsome 5-1 win against struggling Vitesse Arnhem. Willum Thór Willumsson opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time, before the Deventer club added four more in the second half to send Vitesse to the bottom of the table.

Almere City extended their unbeaten run to five matches and moved into the top half of the table as Thomas Robinet and Kornelius Hansen bagged the goals in a 2-1 win at Sparta.

PEC Zwolle recovered from their midweek cup upset against the amateurs of Amsterdamsche by beating Fortuna Sittard 2-0, while NEC, without the recovering Bas Dost, twice equalised in extra time to share a 3-3 draw with Volendam.

Results

Friday

Saturday

Excelsior 1-1 AZ Alkmaar

Go Ahead Eagles 5-1 Vitesse Arnhem

Heracles Almelo 0-6 PSV Eindhoven

RKC Waalwijk 1-2 Feyenoord

Sunday

Ajax 4-1 Heerenveen

NEC Nijmegen 3-3 Volendam

PEC Zwolle 2-0 Volendam

Sparta Rotterdam 1-2 Almere City

Utrecht 1-1 Twente