Ajax have secured a solid 4-1 away victory over Excelsior, consolidating their fourth place at the top of the Premier League table.

Ajax took the lead in the first half with goals by Aras Özbiliz and  Siem de Jong. At 26 minutes, Edwin de Graaf failed to convert a penalty for Excelsior, who are now bottom of the table. At 67 minutes, Jurgen Mattheij scored to bring it to within one point.  De Jong and Jan Vertonghen clinched the final score in the last three minutes. 

Twente v Utrecht
FC Twente barely managed a narrow 1-0 home win over FC Utrecht. Even so, the victory enabled Steve McClaren’s squad to hold on to their second place in the table. Luuk de Jong netted the only goal at 44 minutes. In the second half, odd offensives by FC Utrecht saw them rattle the crossbar and the post. It was FC Twente, however, who had the most opportunities, though sloppiness prevented them from scoring.

PSV v Feyenoord
League leaders PSV succeeded in clinching a hotly-contested 3-2 home victory over Feyenoord, who are in sixth spot. For a long time it looked as though Fred Rutten’s team were going to be held to a draw until, five minutes before the end, Zakaria Labyad squeezed in the winner. At half-time, PSV still had had a solid 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Ola Toivonen and Dries Mertens. In the second half, however, Feyenoord managed to equalise after two goals by Guyon Fernandez.

AZ v Heerenveen
AZ drew 3-3 against sc Heerenveen, which puts AZ two points behind league leaders PSV, with fourth-placed Heerenveen four points behind PSV. At 26 minutes AZ took the lead with a goal by Jozy Altidore, with Heerenveen's Filip Djuricic equalising ten minutes later. A second goal by Altidore put AZ in the lead 2-1. In the game's thrilling final moments, goals by Bas Dost and Luciano Narsingh brought the score to 3-2 for Heerenveen, with Erik Falkenburgh netting the equaliser.

(cl/ae/imm)

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