To know what to expect from Ajax Amsterdam this weekend, one only has to look at the goal difference. They’ve scored more than all clubs other than top-two PSV and Feyenoord, but there were only six clubs at the start of the round that had conceded more goals this league season. Their previous meeting with PSV Eindhoven, a 5-2 defeat, symbolises the season that they’re going through. The club has won seven of their last eight league games (D1) and is slowly approaching the top four, but still have a lot of work to do after failing to register a clean sheet for ten consecutive competitive matches.
The hope and intent is that winter signing Jordan Henderson will bring some stability and assurance to the squad during a season of unprecedented instability for the Dutch giants. The England international’s baptism of fire will take place this weekend in his starting debut for Ajax. There’s also hope in the capital that they can convert some strong scoring form, such as an ongoing streak of scoring 2+ goals in 13 consecutive league games, can help them take points from the runaway leader.
But there’ll be nothing but enormous difficulty in achieving a positive result against PSV, who have now been unbeaten for a 35-game stretch in the Eredivisie whilst scoring on every single occasion. But on the other hand, PSV have managed to win just one of their last seven league games away to Ajax, whilst failing to record a clean sheet in their last 12 Eredivisie visits to the ArenA, so this could be a fascinating test.
Peter Bosz doesn’t have the same options in the forward line to choose from this week, because Noa Lang has been injured yet again whilst Yorbe Vertessen has left the club for Germany and Joey Veerman is not yet ready to make his comeback. The arrival of Couhaib Driouech was sent to counter the loss, but the transfer fell through at the last minute. On a positive note, Ismael Saibari has returned to Eindhoven from the Africa Cup of Nations. In his previous meeting with Ajax, the midfielder turned the game on its head as a substitute.
Players to watch: Brian Brobbey remains in top form with eight goals in his last five games, whilst further back he was also on the scoresheet in the previous H2H. More or less, the same applies to PSV striker Luuk de Jong. He has seven goals from his last four league appearances and a ledger of ten goals and eight assists from 21 games against Ajax.
Hot stat: PSV won their last six competitive games against Ajax, five of which were in regular time.
