Waalwijk 4-1 Vitesse
Twente 2-0 Heerenveen
NAC 1-0 Roda
NEC 0-0 AZ
Sparta 1-1 Heracles
Utrecht 0-2 Den Haag
PSV 0-0 Feyenoord
Ajax 7-0 VVV Venlo
Groningen 4-0 Willem II
Ajax blasted seven past a hapless VVV Venlo side on Sunday, but it's a measure of how consistent Twente have been that they could double that and more and still not prove a threat to the Enschede side's title ambitions. Three games remain this season and if Twente win two of them, it's signed, sealed and delivered. Considering they've lost just one, still, all season long, the odds are shortening. Chiek Tioté got their opener twenty from time at home to Heerenveen and Luuk de Jong sealed the win in the dying moments. On Sunday, Luis Suarez and Marko Pantelic both hit hat-tricks for Ajax. It was 5-0 by half-time and the eventual total sees them on 96 league goals for the season. And it still doesn't look like being enough.
PSV dropped points in a goalless draw with Feyenoord which all but rules them out of championship glory. It could have ended Feyenoord's long tenure in fourth place, but AZ failed to take advantage of the slip as they were held to 0-0 by NEC.
Down at the bottom, Waalwijk pulled off their fifth win of the season to give themselves an outside chance of saving themselves. More likely, it merely postpones the inevitable, but a 4-1 win over Vitesse leaves them eight points adrift with nine more available. Calvin Jong-a-Pin's own goal set them away and Derk Boeriggter doubled the advantage soon after. In the second half, Dustley Muelder made it three a couple of minutes before Benjamin de Ceulaer added a fourth. Muelder put through his own net late on for a Vitesse consolation. It would still have meant relegation had Willem II not lost - they went down hard as well, 4-0 to Groningen. Thomas Enevoldsen set them off in the first minute and goals flowed at regular intervals. Sparta got a draw at home to Heracles, Edouard Duplan's equalising ensuring a point for the Rotterdammers, but they drop into the bottom three as Den Haag climb out following their good win at Utrecht. Finally, NAC kept up their push for the Europa League play-offs as Donny Gorter's early penalty was enough to beat Roda.
Next up comes a Belgian week with a full round of fixtures over Tuesday and Wednesday:
AZ v Twente
Heracles v Waalwijk
Vitesse v NAC
Roda v VVV Venlo
Willem II v Ajax
Feyenoord v Sparta
Heerenveen v PSV
Den Haag v NEC
Utrecht v Groningen
So Waalwijk will be relegated unless they win and even if they do, a win for Willem II - unlikely though that sounds against a rampant Ajax - will also condemn them to the drop. Twente's trip to Alkmaar is their toughest prospect of the remaining fixtures, but if they win this then they really will be able to start planning where to put the soup dish. A favour from the Tilburgers probably wouldn't go amiss, but they ought to be confident of their own abilities. PSV need to win at Heerenveen or they're out of it. Elsewhere, there's a Rotterdam derby with Sparta and Feyenoord both desperate for points for their own ends. Could be tasty.
No comments:
Post a Comment