PSV plays its first game today against a team from the traditional Top Three. Feyenoord will visit the Philips Stadium. The Rotterdammers travel to Eindhoven in fine form, as Feyenoord took the maximum 15 points from their first five Premier League games.
Good league starts
The teams have great similarities. For example, both teams played tough European matches this week. PSV lost narrowly to Atlético Madrid (0-1), while Feyenoord won surprisingly against Manchester United (1-0). In addition, both teams had a good league start. PSV gathered thirteen points, Feyenoord fifteen. PSV and Feyenoord are therefore number 1 and 2 on the league table at the start of the sixth round.
Coolsingel
For Feyenoord, the game against PSV is important because after wins over FC Groningen, FC Twente, Heracles Almelo, Excelsior and ADO den Haag, it is the first game against a rival for the title. A win over PSV could give the Rotterdammers the feeling that they have a real chance of winning the title. The last time a championship was celebrated on Coolsingel was in 1999.
Dirk Kuyt is still of great value to the Rotterdammers
Choices up front
Feyenoord have strengthened considerably in the transfer period. Lex Immers and Anass Achahbar left, but they often played supporting roles at De Kuip. The starting eleven has remained intact, adding goalkeeper Brad Jones and strikers Nicolai Jørgensen and Steven Berghuis, among others. Coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst has several options up front as a result: Jens Toornstra, Bilal Başaçıkoğlu, Berghuis and Eljero Elia compete for two positions on the flanks, while Jørgensen will have to battle Michiel Kramer for the position of first striker. Behind them, club icon Dirk Kuyt and the technically strong Tonny Vilhena provide additional supply from midfield.
Guarantee of spectacle
In recent years, PSV-Feyenoord matches have remarkably often proved to be the most memorable matches of the season. For example, the match is an annual occasion for PSV fans to dream again about an overcast Sunday afternoon in late October 2010. PSV then humiliated Feyenoord with the historic result of 10-0.
Also in the 2014-2015 season, the home game against Feyenoord was a game to talk about. Twice Feyenoord took the lead at Philips Stadium, but three goals from Luuk de Jong made PSV look to win 3-2. Until one minute before time Colin Kazim-Richards rammed the ball into the ropes. 3-3. Feyenoord were already on the bus back with a point in their pockets when Memphis Depay scored the 4-3 deep in injury time. It proved to be the basis for the championship.
Luuk de Jong (here together with Héctor Moreno) scored a hat trick in his first PSV - Feyenoord match on behalf of PSV