An injury-time winner by Ricardo Pepi enabled PSV to close in on their first Eredivisie in seven years as well as strengthening Feyenoord’s claim on second place.

Pepi dinked the ball into the corner of the net after Luuk de Jong broke through a tiring defence to set up a chance for Hirving Lozano. The Mexican fluffed his chance but Malik Tillman picked up the loose ball and squared it for Pepi.

The result was harsh on Twente, who had just missed a chance to settle the match when Mitchell van Bergen broke clear only to overrun the ball, allowing Walter Benitez to gather. PSV remain 10 points clear with eight matches still to play.

Third-placed Twente are now nine points behind Feyenoord, who edged a close contest at Heerenveen thanks to a late strike by Ayase Ueda. The Japanese striker capitalised on a catastrophic piece of defending by Syb van Ottele, after Mats Köhlert had twice the Friesland side in front.

AZ Alkmaar’s hopes of catching Twente for the Champions League play-off spot were revived as they crushed bottom side Volendam 4-0, with Yukinari Sugarawa scoring twice, including a curling free-kick after 75 minutes. Vangelis Pavlidis bagged the third to edge ahead of Luuk de Jong in the scoring charts on 23.

Second-bottom Vitesse Arnhem claimed a point at home to Almere City thanks to Anis Hadj Moussa’s late equaliser, but remain five points from safety after the two teams above them, Excelsior and RKC, drew in Rotterdam.

Heracles open gap

Heracles moved away from the relegation places with a 2-0 win against high-flying Go Ahead Eagles. Jizz Hornkamp’s 55th-minute header sneaked over the goal-line before Jeffrey de Lange could claw it out, before Byran Limbombe drilled in a second.

Ajax stay fifth but are now eight points behind AZ after recovering from 2-0 down at Sparta with a late equaliser by Steven Bergwijn. Arno Verscheuren scored both goals for Sparta, while Ajax’s woes were compounded as striker Bryan Brobbey and midfielder Jordan Henderson limped off the field with suspected injuries.

Utrecht closed to within a point of Go Ahead Eagles in eighth place as Sam Lammers’s second-half strike proved the difference against NEC.

Fortuna Sittard are also in contention for the European play-offs as Kaj Sierhuis opened the scoring with his sixth goal in four games in a 3-1 win against PEC Zwolle.

Results

Friday

Heracles Almelo 2-0 Go Ahead Eagles

Saturday

Excelsior 1-1 RKC Waalwijk

Fortuna Sittard 3-1 PEC Zwolle

Vitesse Arnhem 1-1 Almere City

Sunday

Heerenveen 2-3 Feyenoord

PSV Eindhoven 1-0 Twente Enschede

Sparta Rotterdam 2-2 Ajax

Utrecht 1-0 NEC Nijmegen

Volendam 0-4 AZ Alkmaar