With an away game against AZ, PSV faces a tough test before entering the winter break. As is often the case this season, several records are about to be matched or broken.
For the 90th time in history, PSV will face AZ (52W-14G-23V) in an Eredivisie match. Last season this fixture took place on the last matchday of the season. Xavi Simons scored two goals in a 2-1 win in Alkmaar, including the winning goal deep in injury time. With the victory, PSV qualified for the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Champions League and Xavi crowned himself the league's shared top scorer.
Flawless
With fifteen consecutive victories, PSV is approaching the Eredivisie record of 1987-1988. Then Guus Hiddink's treble-winning team managed to win the first seventeen games. In that successful season, the series threatened to run aground in round sixteen. At HFC Haarlem the score was still 0-0 after 82 minutes, after which Wim Kieft broke the spell for PSV with two goals (83', 86'). The opponent got no further than Rob Matthaei's 1-2 (88').
Familiar names
Both PSV and AZ have players who have worn the shirts of both teams. Within Head Coach Peter Bosz 's selection, Guus Til and Boy Waterman once earned their spurs with the North Hollanders. Guus played almost eighty games for AZ at the highest level, Boy over thirty. Sunday's opponent Ruben van Bommel, son of former PSV player Mark, is an outfielder who was educated at PSV Campus de Herdgang. Trainer Pascal Jansen has also been active at the club for many years: between 2013 and 2018 he held positions including head coach of Young PSV and Head of Youth Training.
Equaling
PSV's goal production this season also stands out. With 52 goals in the 15 games played, PSV is scoring lustily with an average of at least three goals per game. The 1-0 win at Sparta Rotterdam in May is the last game the club did not score at least two goals. PSV achieved that number in each of its last eighteen Eredivisie games. Only Ajax ever set such a series in the Eredivisie: nineteen games in a row in 2012.
Not just in the first half of the season, but in the entire 2023 calendar year, PSV's goal counter in the Eredivisie was running at full speed. The team was already good for 99 goals and is thus close to reaching the magic limit of 100 goals. Only in 1987 (110) and 1995 (107) was this limit reached. In both seasons PSV crowned themselves national champions.
