Coach Fred Rutten’s team did not have to put in too much effort to beat last-comer De Graafschap 4-1 in a home game. Both PSV and AZ now have 45 points out of 21 matches, but the Eindhoven team has a much better goal difference (+34 vs. +27).

All of PSV’s goals were scored before half time by Dries Mertens (from a penalty), Ola Toivonen, Tim Matavz and Jeremain Lens. Gil Vermouth scored de Graafschap’s only goal in the second half.

Heerenveen
SC Heerenveen beat RKC Waalwijk 0-1. RKC had to continue with just ten players for a full hour after Evander Sno was shown a red card. Rajiv van la Parra scored for Heerenveen in de 39th minute. Heerenveen now share third place with Feyenoord.

Feyenoord
Feyenoord are slowly crawling up the rankings after a 3-1 victory over Arnhem team Vitesse. Johyn Guidetti was once again top scorer for the Rotterdam squad. He scored three times against Vitesse, a stunt he pulled twice before this season against Ajax and FC Twente. Nicky Hofs scored for Vitesse from a penalty.

Utrecht
FC Utrecht and ADO Den Haag split the points. The two teams scored one goal each in the Utrecht Galgenwaard stadium. Earlier this season in The Hague a match between the two ended in a two-all draw. Frank Demouge scored for Utrecht half an hour into the game. Lex Immers was responsible for the equaliser shortly before half time.

Other results:
FC Twente - Heracles Almelo: 2-3
AZ - Excelsior: 2-0
Roda JC - NEC: 1-0
VVV Venlo - FC Groningen: 2-0
NAC Breda - Ajax: 0-2

The rankings:
1. PSV: 21 - 45
2. AZ: 21 - 45
3. Heerenveen: 21 - 40
4. Feyenoord: 21 - 40
5. FC Twente: 20 – 39

(gsh)

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