Eredivisie round-up: PSV Eindhoven move five points clear at top
Saturday 15 December 2018 23:25, UK
PSV Eindhoven opened up a five-point gap at the top of the Eredivisie following a comprehensive 4-0 victory at nine-man Heracles Almelo.
Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring with his eighth goal of the season - and third from the last four - and Daniel Schwaab headed the defending champions further ahead before Jesper Drost saw red for the hosts on the stroke of half-time following a VAR review.
Denzel Dumfries headed home a third deep into the second half but things went from bad to worse late on for Heracles, who conceded a penalty after VAR showed Lennart Czyborra's deliberate handball in the box and he was duly sent off.
The hosts had a let-off as Gaston Pereiro's spot-kick was saved in the bottom-right corner, but a minute later the Uruguay midfielder's header added the gloss at the death.
AZ Alkmaar struck back to edge a 2-1 victory at home to Excelsior thanks to Bjorn Johnsen's header four minutes into second-half stoppage time.
Guus Til had levelled for the hosts six minutes before the break following Denis Mahmudov's 30th-minute opener and AZ moved up to fifth as a result.
Martin Odegaard and Oussama Darfalou were on target as Vitesse Arnhem returned to winning ways by beating VVV-Venlo 2-1 to move up a spot to sixth. Peniel Mlapa replied for Venlo but they failed to find an equaliser.
In the earlier kick-off, the spoils were shared following a goalless stalemate between PEC Zwolle and fellow strugglers NAC Breda at IJsseldelta Stadion.
