With their Eredivisie table hopes now hanging by a thread, PSV Eindhoven will go in search of a crucial victory when they head to the Mandemakers Stadion on Saturday to face off against RKC Waalwijk.
While the visitors are running out of time to defend their league crown, the home side are currently up against it in the battle for survival and have little margin for error from here on out.
Match preview
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Having already suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat to Arsenal in the first leg of the sides’ Champions League last-16 clash, PSV played out a 2-2 stalemate in Wednesday’s largely inconsequential meeting at the Emirates Stadium.
Goals from former loanee Oleksandr Zinchenko and Declan Rice saw Peter Bosz‘s men go 1-0 and 2-1 down, but they managed to hit back on either occasion through Ivan Perisic and Couhaib Driouech.
Off the back of a difficult couple of weeks that have resulted in Champions League and KNVB Beker exits, as well as the loss of top spot in the Eredivisie table, PSV have seen their season deteriorate of late and have only a UCL spot for next season as their biggest takeaway as things stand.
Currently eight points shy of Ajax with just nine games left to play, the defending champions are faced with a near insurmountable task of usurping their biggest rivals, but with the teams still to meet before the close of the month, they just about retain a faint chance of securing a second straight title.
Given their active streak of 11 straight wins against this weekend’s opponents, the away side will be confident of coming away with a much-needed victory to heap a bit of pressure on Ajax ahead of their huge clash against AZ Alkmaar.
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Waalwijk were on the receiving end of back-to-back league losses for the first time since the turn of the year, courtesy of a crushing 2-1 defeat against Fortuna Sittard when the sides locked horns at the end of February.
Despite boasting just under two-thirds of the ball possession, Henk Fraser‘s men went into second-half stoppage time trailing to an Alessio Da Cruz opener but looked like they had managed to secure a point through Silvester van der Water before Ryan Fosso netted a dramatic winner.
It seems a long time ago that Waalwijk claimed three straight victories against Willem II, Almere City and NAC Breda to ignite their relegation battle, but any momentum from that winning run has now gone down the drain.
Still seven points adrift of safety with 10 matches left, starting with this weekend’s affair, RKC are staring down the barrel of top-flight relegation, and in truth, the handwriting had been on the wall for a long time.
Nonetheless, Saturday’s hosts will keep fighting until the very end, but their task is set to be further complicated by daunting clashes against AZ Alkmaar, FC Utrecht and Feyenoord still on the horizon.
Team News
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Dario Van den Buijs is ruled out of contention for Waalwijk due to an injury he picked up against Feyenoord in early December and has not featured since then.
Twenty-seven-year-old Yanick van Osch is also unavailable to play any part this weekend and is joined on the hosts’ treatment table by Daouda Weidmann.
Forwards Fode Fofana and Ricardo Pepi are currently down with respective knee injuries, ruling them out of contention for PSV Eindhoven on Saturday.
Youngster Wessel Kuhn has missed the last three games with muscle issues and is not expected to be back in time to feature for the away side this weekend.
Long-term absentee Malik Tillman is still a considerable way off making a comeback, although the midfielder is likely to return to the fray before the season draws to a close.
RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:
Houwen; Familia-Castillo, Van Gelderen, Lelieveld, Al Mazyani; Oukili, El Yaakoubi, Van de Loo; Margaret, Kramer, Ihattaren
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Mauro Jr., Boscagli, Flamingo, Ledezma; Schouten, Saibari; Perisic, Til, Lang; De Jong
We say: RKC Waalwijk 1-3 PSV Eindhoven
PSV have been far from their best of late but still possess more than enough quality to see off Waalwijk.
We fully expect the away side to cruise to a routine win when all is said and done.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
