The pressure is on as the Eredivisie season enters its final stages with matters to be settled at both the top and bottom of the table, and it looks like some are feeling it more than others. FC Groningen continued to struggle this past week, PSV cut it fine to keep themselves three points clear at the summit and Ajax made it look like just another day at the office.
Willem II Tilburg have refused to go down without a fight since the winter break, but they are still without a win on the road this term as they lost 2-1 to Graafschap. It looked like Willem had grabbed a watershed win when Juha Hakola broke the deadlock after 78 minutes. However, there was still time for Rydell Poepon to bring the hosts level again two minutes later, and then Hugo Bargas made it 2-1 in the 87th minute to earn Graafschap the win.
PSV maintained their three point lead at the top of the table in dramatic fashion as they beat third-bottom side SC Excelsior 3-2 in a game that saw two injury time penalties. It was the strugglers that started the scoring as the club's top scorer Guyon Fernandez netted his seventh of the season, and the lead lasted until early in the second half when Jermain Lens and Atiba Hutchinson both scored in the space of three minutes to turn the game around and make it 2-1 to Eindhoven.
That looked to be it, however, when Excelsior were awarded a penalty and Edwin De Graaf slotted it home it seemed that the home side had earned a valuable last-minute point. Unfortunately for Excelsior the same thing then happened at the opposite end just seconds later, with Balazs Dzsudzsak converting to make it 3-2.
ADO Den Haag swept aside NEC Nijmegen with an impressive 5-1 to leap-frog Groningen and AZ in the table and now find themselves fourth. Lex Immers scored Den Haag's first in the 16th minute, only to be pegged back by the Eredivise's top scorer Bjorn Vleminckx two minutes later.
However, that would be the only thing for any visiting NEC fans to enjoy for the remainder of the game. Dmitry Bulykin made it 2-1 from the spot after 28 minutes, and goals from Wesley Verhoek Jens Toornstra not long after the break made it four. Things continued to get worse for Nijmegen as Nik Zimling saw red three minutes from time and Jody Brouwer rounded off the scoring in stoppage time to make it 5-1.
Twente kept up the pressure on PSV with a 2-0 home win over NAC Breda, still leaving them three points adrift of top spot. And it didn't come easily with Breda matching the Enschede based side for most of the game. Both teams had their chances and it wasn't until just after the hour mark when Dutch international Luuk De Jong made it 1-0 to Twente. Nacer Chadli capped off the win with another injury time goal, which ensure his side got all three points.
Vitesse Arnhem have now opened up a six point gap between themselves and the bottom three as they beat VVV Venlo 2-0. Marco van Ginkel scored his side's first in fortuitous fashion as two Venlo defenders left it for each other and leaving him the easy task of slotting the ball home. Vitesse wrapped up the points late on when Ferry de Regt put through his own net to make it 2-0.
The biggest game of the weekend, on paper, was the visit of AZ Alkmaar to the Amsterdam Arena, however AZ found themselves thoroughly beaten as Ajax put four past them without reply to keep their title aspirations alive.
Demmy De Zeeuw got things started with just five minutes on the clock, and it took until the 56th minute for a dominant Ajax to strike again, this time Siem De Jong finding the net. The hosts continued to press and after Lorenzo Ebicilio made it 3-0 Alkmaar's night got even worse as substitute Graziano Pellè was shown a red card. This naturally made Ajax's task even easier and Vuron Anita made it 4-0 a minute from time to cap off a resounding win for the Dutch giants.
FC Groningen found themselves on the wrong end of a hammering for the third consecutive week and are now outside of the top four after they lost 4-1 to Heracles on their own turf. However it was Groningen who started the brighter, Dusan Tadić heading home with 12 minutes gone, and if it wasn't for Andreas Granqvist blazing his penalty over the bar six minutes later it may have been a different afternoon.
Just before the break Everton Ramos da Silva levelled the game, and Samuel Armenteros added a second to make it 2-1 to Heracles before the half time whistle. Heracles then proved too much for Groningen after the break and Everton added his second and his side's third with 65 minutes gone, with Armenteros also securing a brace in the 89th minute to make it 4-1.
Feyenoord are now unbeaten in five and nine points off the drop following a 1-0 away win over Heerenveen. The hosts had the majority of chances but failed to capitalise on any of them, and it was Luc Castaignos who scored the winner 12 minutes from time whilst taking his personal tally for the season into double figures.
Finally, seventh met eighth as Utrecht played host to Roda JC, and it was honours even as the game ended 1-1, FC Utrecht's sixth straight draw. It had looked as if Mads Junker's first half penalty would be enough to earn Roda all three points, but Leon de Kogel found the bottom corner in the 82nd minute to level the game and to keep both teams locked in the hunt for a Europa League place.