PSV Eindhoven will look to place one hand on the Eredivisie title when they head to Abe Lenstra Stadion to take on Heerenveen on Thursday evening.
If the Peasants win this match and Feyenoord loses in Deventer later in the evening, PSV could even be crowned league champions for the 25th time in their history by the end of the night.
Match preview
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It has been a truly remarkable league campaign for PSV, and after three consecutive seasons of finishing as runners-up, all they require is four points from their remaining four games to reclaim the Eredivisie title.
Since conceding their first and only league loss of the season against NEC last month, the Boeren have been on a rampage, smashing in 13 goals in their last three matches, including five agaisnt AZ and six without reply last week against Vitesse.
Against the Vites, Luuk de Jong opened the scoring in the 28th minute, with Malik Tillman and Andre Ramalho extending the lead to 3-0 by the break. Johan Bakayoko continued his rich vein of form, scoring the fourth of the afternoon before De Jong got his second in the game, and Hirving Lozano netted in stoppage time.
With that result, De Jong notched up another record this term, becoming only the fourth player to score 25 or more goals in four different Eredivisie seasons, while Bakayoko became the second youngest foreign player to find the net in four consecutive Eredivisie games for PSV, after Ronaldo back in 1995.
Up next for Peter Bosz and co is Heerenveen - a side that they beat fairly comfortably in the reverse fixture back in December 2-0 and one that they have not lost to in their last 11 encounters (W5 D6 L0) dating back to September 2017.
Heerenveen are enjoying another solid season but slipped out of the top half of the standings in the last month after failing to secure a win in five games, including three losses and two draws between March 10 and April 7.
However, they managed to end that winless run in their last outing, overcoming Heracles 2-0 with goals from Che Nunnely and Pelle van Amersfoort in the match's first and final 10 minutes, respectively.
With that result, Kees van Wonderen's side remained four points behind ninth-placed Sparta Rotterdam but the win also guaranteed that they cannot be automatically relegated this season, now 17 points clear of the drop with 12 points left to play for.
The hosts will now be looking to avoid a fourth consecutive match without victory at Abe Lenstra Stadion. During that time, they lost to Feyenoord and Utrecht, drew against Twente, and conceded three goals in each of those matches.
Team News
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For this match, Heerenveen will be able to welcome back Oliver Braude, who served his one-match suspension last week for the red card he was shown against Utrecht at the start of the month.
Denzel Hall is still suspended and will not feature in midweek, while Osame Sahraoui missed the trip to Almelo with a knock and has been flagged as a doubt for this one.
PSV announced earlier in the week that Sergino Dest suffered a serious knee injury during training, and it appears that he is now going to miss the remainder of the season as well as this summer's Copa America in the United States.
Dest is the latest addition to PSV's injury list, which already features Isaac Babadi (knee) and Noa Lang (hamstring), who are done for the season. Ismael Saibari (muscle) and Ricardo Pepi (knock) are listed as questionable.
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Van der Hart; Ali, Van Beek, Bochniewicz, Kohlert; Haye, Olsson; Nunnely, Brouwers, Walemark; Van Amersfoort
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Teze, Silva, Boscagli, Van Aanholt; Schouten, Veerman; Bakayoko, Til, Tillman; De Jong
We say: Heerenveen 1-3 PSV Eindhoven
PSV are streaking toward the title and are doing it in some style. They have been banging in goals for fun lately and now face a Heerenveen side that have shipped nine in their last three home games alone, which does not bode well for their chances in this match. We feel the champions-elect will notch up another big win in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
