Roda v Vitesse
Waalwijk v Den Haag
NEC v VVV Venlo
AZ v Willem II
Utrecht v Sparta
Feyenoord v Twente
NAC v Heerenveen
Groningen v PSV
Heracles v Ajax
A month gone already in the Netherlands and already the top five is populated by the clubs you'd expect to be in there; the traditional Big Three plus latecomers AZ and Twente. This week's top game is at De Kuip where Feyenoord welcome Twente. Slipping under most radars (mine included: mea culpa), Feyenoord are top of the tree despite not changing personnel so much. The ageing strike force is still in place, but Jon Dahl Tomasson looks a man reborn under Mario Been who is leading a quiet revolution down in Rotterdam. The first thing he did was to trim the massive squad down to something more manageable and more drastic surgery on it may have to wait until some of the massive wages (Makaay, Tomasson, van Bronkhorst) come off the bill as contracts expire. Rumour has it that Chelsea fancy playmaker Jonathan de Guzman which would leave a creative black hole in the middle of the park for Feyenoord, but for now they're going OK. Steve McClaren is doing something similar in Enschede having lost two thirds of his three-man attack from last season. Unlike last term, Twente's football isn't getting many pulses racing, but they're so hard to break down and that's seen them to an unbeaten start to the season.
PSV, AZ and Ajax will all fancy to come away with wins from the weekend, though Heracles may fancy themselves at home to the Amsterdammers. Sparta took a point off them a week ago and they were less than impressive midweek against Slovan Bratislava, though that tie was done and dusted in the first leg. PSV's trip to Groningen and AZ's home game with Willem II both look pretty straightforward.
VVV are a good bet for a first win of the season away at NEC, Vitesse need a kick start to their season away in Kerkrade while Sparta go to Utrecht who are still unbeaten. Heerenveen won through in Europe on away goals midweek and are still struggling for form. Their trip to Breda will not be easy and Waalwijk look to get their season going with their easiest fixture to date, at least on paper, at home to Den Haag.
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