AZ Alkmaar 0 – 4 PSV Eindhoven
Coming off a 1-1 draw against Arsenal in Champions League action midweek, Peter Bosz’ boys got back to winning ways as they thrashed fourth place AZ on the road, keeping their undefeated season alive and well.
With the team back to full strength after Bosz gave some CL game time to fringe players, including Ricardo Pepi, it only took returning Luuk de Jong nine minutes to score his 11th goal of the Eredivisie season. He added his 12th after the intermission. Sergino Dest, who came off the bench for a few minutes against Arsenal, started and added his name to the score sheet, while Ismael Saibari also found the back of the net. Malik Tillman started, played 69 minutes and assisted on Dest’s goal. Pepi came off the bench in the 69th minute, replacing de Jong.
For the hosts, former Chicago Fire midfielder, Djordje Maihailovic started in the center of the park but didn’t even make it until the intermission.
With just a half dozen minutes played, Tillman found himself in the 18 yard box with the ball. The AZ keeper Hobie Verhulst also found the American there and fouled him. Just to be sure, VAR was consulted and sure enough, the ball was placed on the penalty spot by de Jong and converted. Two minutes after he converted, the Dutchman found Saibari in the middle of the box with his slick pass and was credited with the assist.
With the ball in their defensive third, the Farmers won it back and charged down the field. Tillman spotted his American colleague and passed the ball, watching Dest shoot from the left side of the box just inside the far post. With just 16 minutes played, the game was already over.
Tillman was all over the field, tormenting the Cheese Farmers’ defense. He could have collected a couple more assists, one from Dest again and one from de Jong but the first was blocked and the second barely missed the target. Minutes later, the AZ coach decided that he had seen enough because he made a triple change in the 36th minute, including Maihailovic.
Things appeared to settle down somewhat because it wasn’t until the second half that the visitors were able to light up the score board again. Saibari sent a cross into the box and de Jong coolly headed it in from close range.
The victory leaves PSV 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Feyenoord. This game also ended their league campaign for the year, although they will be in Dutch Cup action on Thursday night against Twente. After the holidays, the march to the title will continue at home on January 13th when 12th place Excelsior Rotterdam comes to Eindhoven.
Notes
Taylor Booth came off the bench in the 63rd minute for Utrecht. By that time however, all the scoring was done as the Domstedelingen shared the points with Waalwijk after their one all draw.
Utrecht too, will be in Cup action midweek and then enjoy their holiday break before returning in January with a trip to Arnhem to take on Vitesse.
Both John Hilton and Oluwakorede Osundina were in the starting lineup for Dordrecht of the Eerste Divisie when they played Telstar on the road and won by two goals to none. Hilton assisted on the second one.
Dordrecht have a midweek Cup game and then will be back in league action on Saturday afternoon when they host Emmen. They will then go on holiday break until mid-January.
