FC Twente booked a minimal victory over PEC Zwolle on Saturday evening. Daan Rots scored the only goal against the last goal: 1-0. Twente did not play great, but did record their fourth consecutive victory and increased the pressure on Feyenoord. The day before the meeting between Ajax and Feyenoord, the gap with the number three from Rotterdam is only one point. AZ can equalize with Twente via a win over Willem II on Sunday. PEC could leave the relegation zone with a win, but remains last.
It promised to be a special match for Ron Jans given his past at PEC, but the Twente trainer had to fail. He has tested positive for the corona virus, as has his assistant coach Andries Ulderink. As a result, the honors against PEC were taken by the other assistant Ivar van Dinteren, who also led the final practice on Friday. Van Dinteren was in turn assisted by Jeffrey de Visscher, who normally sits in the press gallery next to the club’s video analyst.
In the five-man rearguard of PEC, Bram van Polen took the central role of the suspended Yuta Nakayama. Van Polen made a mistake in defending twice in the opening phase, but PEC escaped both times. Twente still opened the score in the eighteenth minute. After Virgil Misidjan’s through ball on Michel Vlap, defender Thomas van den Belt seemed to be the first to reach the ball, but he misjudged the edge of the penalty area and handed the ball in anyway. Vlap was therefore able to serve Rock, who shot in from close range. PEC operated carelessly and struggled to get out of the pressure from Twente. In the injury time of the first half, Vlap shot into the side net instead of returning the ball to Ricky van Wolfswinkel, leaving it at 1-0.
At the start of the second half, PEC got away well when Van Polen cleared the ball from a shot by Julio Pleguezuelo. Yet Twente still had a hard time. PEC looked for the equalizer and came close via a header from Van den Belt, but Lars Unnerstall prevented the 1-1 with a nice reflex. He then also clamped a shot from Daishawn Redan. Joshua Brenet forgot to make the decision when he suddenly steamed up through several defenders in minute 87 and appeared in front of Kostas Lamprou, who made the save. Twente continued to search in vain for the decision and did not run into major problems in the back.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 26 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 66 | 63 |
| 2 | PSV | 26 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 32 | 61 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 35 | 55 |
| 4 | FC Twente | 27 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 54 |
| 5 | AZ | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 51 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 25 | 12 | 5 | 8 | -6 | 41 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 40 |
| 8 | Fc Groningen | 26 | 8 | 9 | 9 | -4 | 33 |
| 9 | SC Cambuur | 27 | 10 | 3 | 14 | -15 | 33 |
| 10 | NEC | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | -10 | 31 |
| 11 | sc Heerenveen | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | -12 | 30 |
| 12 | Go Ahead Eagles | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | -13 | 30 |
| 13 | Heracles Almelo | 27 | 7 | 6 | 14 | -10 | 27 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 26 | 5 | 9 | 12 | -14 | 24 |
| 15 | Fortuna Sittard | 25 | 6 | 4 | 15 | -27 | 22 |
| 16 | William II | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | -23 | 22 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 24 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -18 | 20 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 27 | 5 | 5 | 17 | -22 | 20 |