A 22nd Eredivisie title may now be out of Ajax's reach, as their loss at Den Haag this past weekend means they are six points adrift of leaders PSV and five points off of FC Twente after both the top two picked up all three points in their games.
However, the race for fourth spot is very much still a three horse race, if not more, and AZ Alkmaar ensured that they remain in the top four for at least another week as they came from behind to beat Vitesse Arnhem 3-1 on Friday night. The visitors took the lead just before the break when Marco van Ginkel found the top corner, but after 63 minutes Pontus Wernbloom struck AZ's equaliser and the home side pushed on from there as goals from Simon Poulsen and Maarten Martens in the 8ist and 84th minutes made it 3-1.
FC Groningen also kept their hopes of a fourth place finish alive, and ended their dismal run of form in the process, with a 1-0 win away at Breda. Groningen dominated the game, although they had to wait 72 minutes to open the scoring when Andreas Granqvist found the back of the net. Dusan Tadić had the opportunity to make sure of the win from the spot nine minutes from time, but saw his penalty saved. However one goal proved enough to get all three points for the visitors.
Heracles moved up to 9th in the table and subsequently moved above their opponents Heerenveen after beating them 4-2. Everton Ramos da Silva gave Heracles the lead for the first time in the match after 20 minutes, only for to be pegged back by Mika Väyrynen fifteen minutes later. But it was Heracles who ran away with the game after this, with a goal from Samuel Armenteros in the 44th minute and two goals in three minutes from Antoine van der Linden and Darl Douglas just before the hour mark, making it 4-1. Philip Hagland replied for Heerenveen with a stunning strike to make it 4-2 but it proved to be just a consolation.
It was a stalemate between the Eredivisie's two bottom clubs in De Koel last weekend, as it ended 0-0 between Venlo and Tilburg. Both sides had chances, and both would have been hoping to leave with all three points due to their positions in the table, however they had to settle for a draw and a point each.
NEC Nijmegen only managed a 1-0 win when they hosted De Graafschap, despite their dominance. And the only goal of the game came after two minutes when Leroy George headed in from six yards. Graafschap didn't really look threatening until the closing stages of the game, but by then it was too late and it ended 1-0 to Nijmegen.
Sunday saw all three of this season's title contenders in action, starting with Ajax's 3-2 loss at Den Haag. Frantisek Kubik put the hosts 1-0 up in the first half, but it wasn't until the last twenty minutes that the goals started to fly in.
Jan Vertonghen put Ajax back on level terms with 70 minutes gone, only for Lex Immers to make it 2-1 six minutes later. The visitors came from behind again and looked to have salvaged a point when Christian Eriksen's header beat keeper Gino Coutinho with five minutes left. However, Den Haag rallied again and Timothy Derijck scored the winner to make it 3-2 in the 87th minute.
A goal in each half made sure that Twente kept up the pressure on PSV as they beat Excelsior 2-0 on their travels. Theo Janssen scored both goals, his first came in the 36th minute in a half that saw both sides create good chances, but it seemed the goal knocked Excelsior's confidence as it was all Twente after the restart.
And in the 68th minute they doubled their lead when Janssen converted his spot kick after Kaj Ramsteijn saw red for his challenge on Luuk De Jong, all but ending any hope of a comeback for the home team. Despite the numerical advantage though the score remained 2-0.
PSV made it through to the Europa League quarter-finals in mid-week after beating Rangers, and their fatigue showed this past weekend as they just managed to scrape a 1-0 win over FC Utrecht to remain top of the Eredivisie. Utrecht were more than happy to sit back and defend for most of the game to gain a valuable away point at the table-toppers, but PSV managed to break the deadlock and score the only goal of the game after 54 minutes when Otman Bakkal's powerful header found the back of the net to earn the Eindhoven outfit all three points.
Feyenoord's recent run of good form came to an abrupt end as they were beaten 3-0 by 7th placed Roda. The Europa League hopefuls opened the scoring with only seven minutes played as Anouar Hadouir's impressive free kick made it 1-0. Mads Junker had a great chance to make it two just before half time, but saw his penalty saved by Erwin Mulder, however he quickly made up for it less than a minute later when he did make it two, with his fifteenth of the campaign. Much of the same followed in the second half, and a Diego Biseswar own goal capped off the 3-0 win for Roda.