PSV Eindhoven will have a chance to go back top of the Eredivisie overnight when they play host to FC Utrecht at Philips Stadion on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts are level with current league leaders Ajax on 51 points but have played a game more, while the visitors are in third place, nine points behind the top two teams.
Match preview
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PSV will determined to get back to winning ways this weekend, having played out back-to-back draws in their last two games, which forced them to relinquish the lead in the league standings for the first time this season.
The most recent of those draws came last weekend at home to Willem II, where an 83rd-minute goal by Mickael Tirpan cancelled out Noa Lang's opener, marking the fourth time the defending champions have dropped points in the last five games.
Indeed, the only victory the Boeren have managed in 2025 came against NAC Breda, while they drew against AZ Alkmaar and NEC either side of a shocking 3-1 defeat to PEC Zwolle in mid-January.
Aside from the league competition, Peter Bosz's side's Champions League campaign is also in serious danger of coming to an end after losing their playoff first leg 2-1 to Juventus on the road on Tuesday night.
Still, the hosts are massively fancied to come out on top here given their stellar home record, where they have won nine of their 11 league matches this season and have not tasted defeat in the top flight since November 2022.
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Meanwhile, after an incredible start to the season, when they went eight games unbeaten (W7 D1 L0), Utrecht have found positive results hard to come by of late, currently winless in their last four league games.
Last week, Utreg suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of relegation favourites Almere City, a side that had only won two games and scored a paltry 11 goals in their preceding 20 matches this term.
With that result, Ron Jans's side are now winless in their last five matches across all competitions (W0 D3 L2), and during that period they were also knocked out of the KNVB Beker 2-0 by Heracles.
Unfortunately for the visitors, bringing an end to their current winless run seems unlikely this weekend based on recent trends, as they have failed to win any of their last three away matches and have not beaten this opponent in their last nine attempts dating back to October 2019.
Team News
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PSV will be unable to call upon Ricardo Pepi, who has scored 11 goals in the top flight this season, with the attacker now ruled out for the remainder of the campaign with a serious knee injury.
Rick Karsdorp (unspecified) and Sergino Dest (knee) are sidelined for the foreseeable future, while Olivier Boscagli and Malik Tillman are flagged as major doubts this week owing to a muscle and ankle injury respectively.
The visitors are likely to be missing three players for this trip to Eindhoven, with Niklas Vesterlund (knock), Can Bozdogan (groin) and Miguel Rodriguez (shin) all listed as questionable.
After starting on the bench in the defeat to Almere City, midfielder Oscar Fraulo will likely be brought back into the starting lineup this weekend to partner Zidane Iqbal in the engine room.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Junior, Nagalo, Obispo, Malacia; Schouten, Veerman; Lang, Til, Bakayoko; De Jong
FC Utrecht possible starting lineup:
Barkas; Horemans, Van der Hoorn, Viergever, El Karouani; Fraulo, Iqbal; Descotte, Jensen, Aaronson; Haller
We say: PSV Eindhoven 2-1 FC Utrecht
While PSV have not been at their best lately and will have one eye on their crucial Champions League clash next week, their home record is still incredible and we feel they will be able to secure a much-needed three points in this match.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
