PSV will meet Excelsior on Sunday, a team that is struggling with a lot of injuries. Nevertheless, the Rotterdammers have picked up ten points from their last five matches and are in a respectable tenth place in the Eredivisie. At the Van Donge & De Roo Stadium, formerly Woudestein, PSV will hunt for their ninth league win in a row.
Mutual encounters
PSV often performs well against Excelsior. The last six times PSV visited Rotterdam's smallest club, they won. Last season, PSV won 3-1 at Woudestein thanks to goals from Luciano Narsingh, Luuk de Jong and Davy Pröpper. For Excelsior, Luigi Bruins scored. The midfielder is Excelsior's top scorer this season with four goals.
Including home games, PSV has not lost to Excelsior for twenty consecutive games. Excelsior's last league victory over PSV dates back to May 27, 1985. Excelsior then won 2-0 thanks to goals by Mike Snoei and Henk van Goozen.
Better on foreign soil
Interestingly, coach Mitchell van der Gaag's team has performed better on foreign soil this season than on home turf. Excelsior collected only four of its seventeen points in home games. Together with Willem II, Roda JC Kerkrade, sc Heerenveen and NAC Breda, that is the least of all clubs in the Eredivisie. PSV, on the other hand, has been on a good run on artificial turf lately. The Eredivisie leader is already unbeaten on the plastic surface for eleven matches.
Full sickbay
Dhe Rotterdammers' sickbay is quite full ahead of the league encounter with PSV. Alessandro Damen, Shane O'Neill, Desevnio Payne and Lorenzo Burnet have been missing with injuries for some time now, but two more names were added to that list this week: PSV mercenary Jordy de Wijs and top scorer Bruins. De Wijs will miss the reunion with his old club due to an injury to his left knee and Bruins is struggling with hamstring problems.