In the first game after the winter break, PSV continued what it was doing: winning. The Eindhoven club had little to fear from Excelsior on Saturday, which came away with a 3-1 defeat. With the seventeenth league victory in a row, PSV equals its own record series of 1987/1988, when the first seventeen games were also won under the leadership of Guus Hiddink.
De Jong scored the opening goal in the thirteenth minute. After Excelsior goalkeeper Stijn van Gassel had managed to stop André Ramalho’s header, the attacker hit the rebound. Four minutes later, De Jong could cheer again after he headed in a cross from Sergino Dest. After more than half an hour, Guus Til thought he had also scored, but because De Jong was offside the celebration was canceled.
In the second half it took a long time for PSV to increase the score further. On a pass from Johan Bakayoko, De Jong finally scored again in the 69th minute, who scored his third of the evening and fifteenth competition goal of the season. In the final phase, Derensili Sanches Fernandes made it 3-1 on behalf of Excelsior and substitute Oscar Uddenas seemed to make it 3-2, but he was offside.
Leader
PSV logically remains the leader in the Eredivisie, with 51 points from 17 games. Next week the club can set a new record by winning for the eighteenth time in a row. For this, FC Utrecht in the Galgenwaard must be added to the winning streak.
Football was also played on three other Eredivisie fields on Saturday evening. Fortuna Sittard lost 2-0 at home to Sparta Rotterdam, FC Twente was too strong for AZ 2-1 and PEC Zwolle and sc Heerenveen were stuck at 2-2. On Friday, Heracles Almelo had already secured the first Eredivisie victory of 2024, by beating RKC Waalwijk 2-1.