De Jong on target again as PSV march on in the Eredivisie
The Dutch league's top scorer Luuk de Jong netted his 17th goal of the season to set leaders PSV Eindhoven on their way to a 3-0 victory at NEC Nijmegen on Sunday.
The win moves the champions to 56 points from 23 matches, one point ahead of Ajax Amsterdam in what has become a two-horse race for the title in the Netherlands this season.
De Jong, who has netted 23 times in all competitions, opened the scoring on 16 minutes with a header before laying on a second for Juergen Locadia in the second half. Midfielder Marco van Ginkel added the third with 15 minutes to play.
Ajax profited from second-half goals by forwards Anwar El Ghazi and a Lasse Schoene penalty in their 2-1 victory at Groningen but had to play the final 20 minutes with 10 men after a second yellow card for defender Mike van der Hoorn.
The home side scored a late consolation through former Ajax player Danny Hoesen with an excellent free kick.
Feyenoord’s miserable league form continued as they slumped to a seventh successive defeat with a 3-1 loss at PEC Zwolle.
Title contenders at the turn of the year, they now face a battle to qualify for the top seven and the Europa League playoffs.
Lars Veldwijk bagged a brace for the home side to go with a goal in stoppage time from Kingsley Ehizibue, while Feyenoord’s consolation came from defender Sven van Beek.
ADO Den Haag kept the pressure on relegation-threatened Excelsior Rotterdam with a 4-2 away victory boosted by two goals from Dennis van der Heijden.
Kevin Jansen and Mike Havenaar also scored for the visitors, who trailed going into the final quarter of the game after Tom van Weert scored twice for Excelsior.