There are still only four points between the top five sides in the Eredivisie as this season looks all set to be one of the closest yet. AZ Alkmaar replaced Twente at the top, whilst PSV silenced their critics with a crushing 7-1 win to keep them in the top four.
And it was Roda who were on the other end of that heavy defeat, being well and truly beaten in front of a sell out crowd at the Philips Stadion. Ola Toivonen scored first to make it 1-0 after quarter of an hour, and it was never going to get any easier for the visitors when just four minutes later Jagoš Vuković was shown a red card.
The goals began to flood in after that and it was 4-0 by half time courtesy of two from Dries Mertens (20, 33) and another from Kevin Strootman (34). Sanharib pulled one back for Roda in the 55th minute, but Mertens completed his hat trick three minutes later to restore PSV's four goal lead. And the hosts added two more in the last ten minutes. Tim Matavž on 83 and Mertens 4th of the night (and 11th of the season), from the spot made it 7-1 to complete the rout.
The glamour tie of the weekend came in the form of Ajax versus FC Twente, and last season's top two had to settle for a share of the spoils, the game at the Amsterdam ArenA ending 1-1.The champions didn't take long to show their intentions as the ever impressive Miralem Sulejmani put them a goal up with just ten minutes gone. Both sides seemed determined to win and send a message to the rest of their rivals, and it looked like Ajax would be the ones walking away with the points until Luuk de Jong found the back of the net three minutes from time to make it 1-1 and earn his side a point.
ADO Den Haag came out on top as 2-0 victors over VVV Venlo, relieving some of their own pressure whilst piling more of it onto their opponents. John Verhoek scored first to make it 1-0 in the twentieth minute with Hungarian Gabor Horváth doubling ADO's lead before the break. Den Haag kept on the front foot for most of the second half but it remained 2-0.
Heerenveen and Heracles remain side by side in the table after the two teams played out a 1-1 draw at Abe Lenstra Stadion. Oussama Assaidi's shot found the top left hand corner just before the half hour mark to give Heerenveen the lead, only for Samuel Armenteros to cancel the strike out on 72 minutes. It was a deserved goal considering the pressure from Heracles, and a deserved point for both sides.
FC Utrecht dropped out of the Europa League play-offs after losing 1-0 on their visit to NAC Breda. NAC had the upper hand in the opening exchanges, and when Michael Zullo was dismissed after receiving a second yellow in the 44th minute it only seemed more likely that the hosts would get the win. However Utrecht held out and had seemingly earned themselves a point right up until injury time when Kees Luijckx struck a hammer blow, scoring for Breda to make it 1-0 and snatch the game.
AZ Alkmaar came from behind to beat Feyenoord 2-1 and go top of the table, taking away the Rotterdammers unbeaten start in the process. Otman Bakkal scored the goal that put Feyenoord ahead, slamming the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the area. It remained 1-0 into the second period until Rasmus Elm hit his 5th of the campaign with an hour gone to level the scores. Then eight minutes later Kevin Leerdam was shown red and it became a case of Feyenoord seeing out the last twenty minutes or so, something they couldn't manage as Brett Holman scored AZ's winner five minutes from time to decisively make it 2-1.
FC Groningen left it dramatically late to beat their hosts De Graafschap, winning 3-2 and moving up to eighth in the table. Despite it being a five goal contest, the first didn't come until the 65th minute when David Texeira put Groningen a goal to the good.
Yuri Rose made it 1-1 five minutes later followed by Vito Wormgoor on 83 to put Graafschap 2-1 up. Texeira then seemingly snatched a point for his side, netting his second in stoppage time to equalise, only for his team mate Dušan Tadić to add another in the dying embers of the game and steal all three points from under their host's noses.
RKC Waalwijk returned to winning ways as they beat NEC Nijmegen 2-0 to remain seventh in the table. The goals came either side of half time, Geoffrey Castillion netting in the 33rd minute and Rick ten Voorde in the 77th to seal another impressive victory for the new boys.
Meanwhile, Eredivisie basement club SC Excelsior had yet another defeat inflicted upon them, this time at the hands of sixth placed Vitesse Arnhem who ran out 2-0 winners at Stadion Woudestein. Initially it looked like it was going to be a lot worse as Wilfried Bony scored twice within twenty two minutes to give Vitesse their 2-0 lead, but fortunately for the hosts that was as bad as it got!