Eredivisie wrap: Ajax, PSV land crucial wins as AZ slip up

Ajax closed to within one point of Eredivisie leaders AZ Alkmaar on Sunday, while PSV Eindhoven crushed Heerenveen to take third spot.

With AZ held to a 0-0 draw at home by struggling NAC Breda, Frank de Boer’s Ajax side made the most of that slip-up by posting a 2-0 win over ADO Den Haag at Kyocera Stadion.

Ajax capitalised on the numerical advantage they got when Ali Boussaboun was sent off for the home side 26 minutes in, and second-half strikes from Jody Lukoki and captain Jan Vertonghen were enough to hand them all three points.

PSV, meanwhile, recorded a resounding 5-1 victory over Heerenveen to leapfrog Twente into third place.

Ola Toivonen put the home side ahead after just five minutes at the Philips Stadion, but an own goal from Erik Pieters tied things up six minutes into the second half.

From there it was all PSV, however, with a Dries Mertens double and other strikes from Orlando Engelaar and Memphis Depay firing PSV to a thumping win.

Twente suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Feyenoord, with an own goal from Nils Roseler and a Sekou Cisse strike doing the damage.

Those results mean there is just five points separating the top six teams, with AZ (53 points) leading from Ajax (52) and PSV (51), while Twente, Feyenoord and Heerenveen are locked on 48 apiece.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Utrecht overcame the setback of losing an early goal to defeat Groningen 3-1 at home.

Dusan Tadic handed the visitors an early lead, but Edouard Duplan restored parity just before the break, and late strikes from Cedric van der Gun and Alexander Gerndt saw Utrecht climb to 13th in the Eredivisie table.