PSV stretched their lead in the Eredivisie to seven points with a comprehensive win against the surprise number two, Utrecht.

Ismael Saibari had the ball in the net for PSV after just four minutes, but was marginally offside when he received the ball. But seven minutes later he made amends when he tapped in Noa Lang’s perfectly weighted pull back to open the scoring.

Utrecht equalised from the penalty spot and survived another offside call against Malik Tillman just before half-time.

But a smash and grab by Guus Til and two goals in four minutes by Saibari and Johan Bakayoko settled the contest, before Til added a sublime fifth after SIebe Horemans had headed in a consolation for Utrecht.

Ajax moved up to second place ahead of their midweek clash with Utrecht with a hard-fought win against an NEC side who asked plenty of questions.

Sontje Hansen gave the home side the lead in Nijmegen when he slammed in a rebound in the 15th minute, but two goals by Wout Weghorst, both times set up by Kenneth Taylor on the left flank, earned Ajax the points.

Gimenez on target

Feyenoord needed a spectacular late strike by Santiago Gímenez to rescue a point at Fortuna Sittard. The Mexican came off the bench to fire in an overhead kick in the 81st minute, after Shawn Adewoye had put the Limburgers ahead from a corner in the first half.

Fifth-placed Twente closed the gap on Feyenoord with their fourth win in five matches against Go Ahead Eagles. The Deventer club took a 2-0 lead in Enschede in the first half before Sam Lammers reduced the arrears just before the break.

Sem Steijn equalised in the 72nd minute with a flashing volley for his 10th goal of the season before former Go Ahead captain Bas Kuipers completed the turnaround with a glancing header nine minutes from full-time.

AZ claimed their first home win since September, but had to wait until the 89th minute of a defensive encounter with Heracles to claim the points. Swedish winger Mayckel Lahdo had already tried twice from long range before taking his third chance to notch his first goal in more than a year.

Ihattaren ends drought

Maurice Steijn is still looking for his first win since returning to Sparta three weeks ago as PEC Zwolle prevailed thanks to Jamiro Monteiro’s cool finish in the second half.

Thijs Oosting and Stijn Resink were on the mark for Groningen to lift the northerners to 12th place in the table as they overcame Willem II in the Euroborg.

RKC Waalwijk moved off the bottom as Mohammed Ihattaren netted a late penalty to earn a point at Heerenveen. It was the first Eredivisie goal in three years for the former PSV prodigy, whose rehabilitation in Waalwijk follows a nomadic few years at Juventus, Ajax and Slavia Prague in which he hardly played.

Almere City fell behind RKC on goal difference with a 1-0 defeat to NAC, their fourth straight loss in the Eredivisie. Leo Sauer scored the only goal with an unchallenged run and curling shot in the 18th minute.

Results

Friday

Heerenveen 1-1 RKC Waalwijk

Saturday

Feyenoord 1-1 Fortuna Sittard

Groningen 2-0 Willem II Tilburg

NAC Breda 1-0 Almere City

PEC Zwolle 1-0 Sparta Rotterdam

Sunday

AZ Alkmaar 1-0 Heracles Almelo

NEC Nijmegen 1-2 Ajax

Twente Enschede 3-2 Go Ahead Eagles

Utrecht 2-5 PSV Eindhoven