Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 6:31 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 18:35

PSV’s infirmary has continued to fill up after the Eredivisie match with Willem II (4-2). Due to a laundry list of injuries, trainer Roger Schmidt was forced to post Érick Gutiérrez as central defender on Sunday afternoon. Just before half time, Carlos Vinícius apparently suffered a serious injury. Schmidt expects the Benfica mercenary to have played his last game for PSV, but is hopeful of the return of Noni Madueke, André Ramalho and Mario Götze.

With three rounds to go in the Eredivisie, the decision in the exciting title battle between Ajax and PSV may fall next weekend when the Eindhoven players visit Feyenoord. Because of the many absentees, Schmidt had to puzzle against Willem II enormously. “I am now even happy if there are doubts, because that means that they have not yet been written off for that game,” Schmidt said. ESPN† “We are hopeful that Noni Madueke, André Ramalho and Mario Götze will be back for the last three games. It is a pity that Carlos Vinicius was injured. I expect his season to come to an end.”

Despite the fact that the gap on leader Ajax is still four points, Schmidt still has faith in a possible championship. “We have to focus on the players who are available. That’s been the whole season. We don’t want to be the team with the fewest injuries. We want to be the team that has the most points. That’s what we focus on and it’s still always possible.”

Captain Cody Gakpo also does not want to throw in the towel yet and hopes that Ajax will lose points next weekend, when the team is waiting for a game against AZ. “We just have a task and that is to win there in De Kuip”, says Gakpo. “Then we are also a bit dependent on what Ajax does against AZ. If they lose points and we have won, then it will be two exciting games. If they win, well, they’ve done well.”