Off the back of three straight defeats across three different competitions, a wounded PSV Eindhoven will seek to get back to winning ways when Heerenveen come visiting the Philips Stadion on Saturday.
Having snapped a run of three consecutive stalemates with a win last time out, the away side will now go in search of back-to-back victories for the first time since mid-December, when they also beat this weekend's hosts.
Match preview
© Imago
PSV's 3-1 triumph over Juventus to book a place in the Champions League round of 16 was arguably their most impressive result of the season, and while that was only just over a fortnight ago, it certainly feels like a long time given the turn of events since.
Two straight defeats for Peter Bosz's men against Go Ahead Eagles three days apart saw them exit the KNVB Beker at the semi-final stage and fall a whopping eight points shy of Ajax in the Eredivisie title race.
With their hopes of a domestic double now extinguished, De Rood-witten were heavily trounced by Arsenal 7-1 in the teams' Champions League last-16 first leg meeting on Tuesday to leave them with a near unassailable deficit to make up heading into the return fixture.
In truth, PSV's recent collapse may not come as a surprise to many given their defensive struggles since the turn of the year, which has seen them record only one clean sheet from 15 matches in league and cup.
For a team once clear at the top of the Eredivisie table, having to close up an eight-point gap over the last 12 matches is not a position PSV would have expected to find themselves in, but with a clash against Ajax still to come, they just about remain alive in the title race.
However, Saturday's hosts have little margin for error from here on out, and anything less than three points this weekend would be deemed a catastrophe with regards to their already faint title ambitions.
© Imago
Since emerging 4-2 winners in their first competitive action of 2025 against NAC Breda, Heerenveen had failed to win any of their subsequent six matches before finally defeating AZ Alkmaar at the Abe Lenstra Stadion on Sunday.
Milos Lukovic and Ilias Sebaoui netted either side of half time to put Henk Brugge's men in the driving seat, and after Zico Buurmeester pulled one back to set out a frantic finale, Marcus Linday made sure of the result in second-half stoppage time.
Currently sitting eighth in the standings, De Superfriezen are back in contention for a European place but will have to withstand a lot of competition, with only three points separating them from Breda in 12th.
With just one victory from 13 editions of this fixture leading up to this weekend's affair, Heerenveen do not have history on their side as they head to an opposing ground where they last won a little over 16 years ago.
Saturday's visitors did, however, get the better of PSV in the sides' most recent encounter earlier this season when Ion Nicolaescu grabbed the game's all-important winner 17 minutes from the end of regulation time.
Team News
© Imago
PSV trio Sergino Dest, Fode Fofana and Ricardo Pepi are all guaranteed absentees for this weekend's encounter as they continue to battle with knee injuries.
The home side will also be without the services of Malik Tillman due to an ankle problem, while January arrival Esmir Bajraktarevic has been sidelined since mid-February through a muscle injury.
Following his penalty against Arsenal, Noa Lang has now been directly involved in a goal in all but one of his last five appearances, making him one to keep an eye on here.
Pawel Bochniewicz is unavailable with a knee problem for Heerenveen as Dutch trio Luuk Brouwers, Sam Kersten and Mickey van der Hart also prepare to miss out.
Jacob Trenskow and Alireza Jahanbakhsh wrap up the list of potential absentees for the away side, although the latter is drawing increasingly closer to a return.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Malacia, Boscagli, Flamingo, Ledezma; Saibari, Schouten; Lang, Til, Bakayoko; De Jong
Heerenveen possible starting lineup:
Noppert, Braude, Kersten, Hopland, Kohlert; Van Ee, Smans, Linday; Gurbuz, Lukovic, Sebaoui
We say: PSV Eindhoven 3-1 Heerenveen
PSV have some soul-searching to do ahead of this weekend's encounter, which offers Heerenveen a glimmer of hope that they can get something from the game.
That said, we are backing the home side to come out on top in a relatively routine manner at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
