Eredivisie | Gameweek 26

Mar 15, 2025 at 7pm UK

Mandemakers Stadion

RKC Waalwijk vs PSV

Match preview

Having already suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie, PSV were held to a 2-2 draw in Wednesday's largely inconsequential encounter at the Emirates Stadium.

Goals from former loanee Oleksandr Zinchenko and Declan Rice put Peter Bosz's men 1-0 and 2-1 down, but they bounced back through Ivan Perisic and Couhaib Driouech.

After a difficult few weeks that saw them eliminated from the Champions League and KNVB Beker, as well as losing top spot in the Eredivisie, PSV's season has taken a turn for the worse, with only a UCL place for next season as their biggest prize at the moment.

Currently eight points adrift of Ajax with just nine games left to play, the defending champions face an almost insurmountable task in their quest to overhaul their chief rivals, but with the teams still to meet before the end of the month, they still have a slim chance of securing a second successive title.

With an 11-game winning streak against this weekend's opponents, the away side will be confident of picking up a much-needed win to pile the pressure on Ajax ahead of their big clash with AZ Alkmaar.

Waalwijk have suffered consecutive league defeats for the first time since the turn of the year, thanks to a crushing 2-1 loss to Fortuna Sittard when the two sides met at the end of February.

Despite enjoying almost two-thirds of the possession, Henk Fraser's men went into second-half stoppage time trailing to Alessio Da Cruz's opener, but looked to have snatched a point through Silvester van der Water before Ryan Fosso's dramatic winner.

It seems a long time ago that Waalwijk won three straight games against Willem II, Almere City and NAC Breda to kick-start their relegation fight, but any momentum from that winning run has now gone down the drain.

Seven points adrift of safety with 10 games remaining, including this weekend's fixture, RKC are staring down the barrel of relegation and in truth the handwriting has long been on the wall.

Saturday's hosts are determined to fight on to the end, but their task is made all the more difficult by the daunting fixtures against AZ Alkmaar, FC Utrecht and Feyenoord.

Recent Performance

RKC Waalwijk Eredivisie form:DWWWLL

PSV Eindhoven Eredivisie form:WDDDLW

PSV Eindhoven form (all competitions):WLLLWD

Team News

Dario Van den Buijs has been ruled out of Waalwijk due to an injury he picked up against Feyenoord in early December and has not featured since.

Twenty-seven-year-old Yanick van Osch is also unavailable for this weekend's clash, joining Daouda Weidmann on the home side's treatment table.

Forwards Fode Fofana and Ricardo Pepi have both been ruled out of Saturday's clash with PSV Eindhoven due to knee injuries.

Youngster Wessel Kuhn has missed the last three games with a muscle problem and is unlikely to be fit for this weekend's away trip.

Long-term absentee Malik Tillman is still some way off a comeback, although the midfielder is likely to return to action before the end of the season.

Possible starting lineup

RKC Waalwijk possible starting lineup:

Houwen; Familia-Castillo, Van Gelderen, Lelieveld, Al Mazyani; Oukili, El Yaakoubi, Van de Loo; Margaret, Kramer, Ihattaren

PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:

Benitez; Mauro Jr., Boscagli, Flamingo, Ledezma; Schouten, Saibari; Perisic, Til, Lang; De Jong