Three days after their 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the Europa League, Feyenoord finished a perfect week with a 1-0 league win over PSV in Eindhoven on Sunday.
After five match rounds in the Eredivisie only Feyenoord were on the maximum of 15 points, and the Rotterdam-based club entered the Philips Stadium with a lot of confidence. PSV were the dominating team for most of the match, while Feyenoord waited patiently to strike from a counter attack.
With PSV missing some chances and Feyenoord also being not sharp enough during their few possibilities in front of the opposite goal, the match seemed to end in a goalless stalemate. However, eight minutes from time a corner kick by Bilal Basacikoglu landed near Eric Botteghin and the Brazilian Feyenoord defender found the net.
“I am very proud of the team,” Feyenoord coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst said afterwards at the press conference. “We had three matches within one week and if you win them all that is fantastic. The game here was in balance, but if you get a chance to win, you must take it and we did. Yes, we are title contenders.”
Also on Sunday, Ajax defeated Heracles 2-0 in Almelo. After a mistake by Heracles defender Tim Breukers, captain Davy Klaassen put Ajax in front in the 66th minute and Nemanja Gudelj scored ten minutes later. Sparta beat NEC 2-0 in Rotterdam, and AZ defeated PEC 2-0 in Zwolle thanks to goals by Wout Weghorst and 18-year-old Eredivisie debutant Guus Til.
On Saturday, FC Twente beat ADO Den Haag 4-1, sc Heerenveen booked a 3-0 win at Roda JC Kerkrade, Vitesse defeated Go Ahead Eagles 2-0 at home and Excelsior drew 1-1 at Willem II in Tilburg. On Friday, FC Utrecht suffered a 5-1 loss at home against FC Groningen.
After six consecutive victories Feyenoord now lead the Eredivisie with 18 points, followed by PSV, Ajax and AZ, all 5 points behind the league leaders.