PSV immediately lost points in the title fight in the first game after the winter break. Sparta Rotterdam kept the Eindhoven team 0-0 in the Philips Stadium. Leader Feyenoord and number two Ajax can benefit from the loss of points on Sunday, by putting the number three in the ranking further behind. Sparta remains pretty sixth.
While Cody Gakpo, who had left for Liverpool, made his first playing minutes in England, Anwar El-Ghazi was his replacement at PSV. A tour de force in the opening phase – El-Ghazi played through his direct opponent Bart Vriends – gave hope or more, but goal attempts failed to materialize in the first half. That also applied to the rest of the PSV team, who had great difficulty with the stiff defense of the Sparta defense.
PSV put more effort into the second half, but again Sparta kept the dominating home team from scoring. It received some help from referee Sander van der Eijk, who refused to give PSV a penalty ten minutes before the end after a tumble by Jordan Teze that seemed to be caused by Sparta defender Michael Pinto. The video referee called Van der Eijk to the video screen for a second opinion, but even after seeing the images, the arbitrator stuck to his point of view.
PSV also dropped points in the last game before the winter break. On November 12, the team lost 1-0 against AZ, so that Feyenoord entered the new year as leader. The team from Rotterdam has a three-point lead and will play against FC Utrecht on Sunday. Number two Ajax, which, like PSV, has 30 points, will visit NEC Nijmegen.