Eredivisie Preview: Feyenoord-PEC a championship six-pointer

Feyenoord and PEC Zwolle face a ‘championship six-pointer’ on Saturday as they both look to keep track with leaders PSV Eindhoven.

PSV (24 points) have a seven-point advantage over Feyenoord and Zwolle after 10 rounds with second-placed Ajax (20) just four points adrift of the Eindhoven club.

Both PSV and Ajax face relatively easy fixtures in round 11 as they host ADO Den Haag and Dordrecht respectively – clubs in the bottom four in the Eredivisie standings.

It means that if either Feyenoord or Zwolle lose, they are likely to finish the weekend 10 points behind PSV, which raises the stakes ahead of the fixture at De Kuip in Rotterdam.

Feyenoord’s coach Fred Rutten has been thrilled with his team’s defensive strength so far this season as they have conceded the least goals – seven – in the league as they prepare to host Zwolle.

“We have picked up points due to our character,” Rutten said after Feyenoord’s 1-0 win at Cambuur on Saturday.

“That is part of Feyenoord, just needs to be accompanied by good football. Today we had in the final chance to make it 2-0 but it remained [at 1-0] because we made the wrong choices.

“Still, I’m not worried about our scoring ability, especially since we get very few goals against.”

Rutten’s men have won their past four matches to storm into third.

During that run, Rutten has been able to select the same defence in all but one game with Luke Wilkshire, Sven van Beek, Miquel Nelom and Terence Kongolo his preferred back four.

Zwolle will arrive in Rotterdam without a win in their past three league outings, although they did thump HHC 6-1 in the KNVB Beker third round on Wednesday with Finnish central defender Thomas Lam scoring a hat-trick in the opening 31 minutes.

Earlier in October, Zwolle had to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 at home with visiting Heerenveen, with Tomas Necid and Maikel van der Werff getting on the scoresheet for Ron Jans’ men.

The draw saw Zwolle slip to fourth, just six weeks after they sat second – three points clear of Ajax and seven ahead of Feyenoord.

Ajax will open the weekend’s action when they welcome second-last Dordrecht to Amsterdam, while PSV versus ADO is the late kick-off on Saturday.

ADO will arrive in Eindhoven with one of the Eredivisie’s equal-leading goal-scorers in Michiel Kramer, who struck for the fourth straight match last week in a 2-0 win over Dordrecht.

Kramer has eight goals, level with Mark Uth of Heerenveen, who scored a brace in his team’s draw with Zwolle.

Heerenveen and Cambuur (both 16 points) will look to pounce on Feyenoord and Zwolle if either or both of them drop points.

Cambuur travel to Willem II and Heerenveen will visit FC Twente, while in other fixures, Utrecht host Vitesse Arnhem, Go Ahead Eagles will welcome Heracles to Deventer, AZ Alkmaar face Excelsior and Groningen clash with NAC Breda.