Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 4:22 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 16:28

Second place in the Eredivisie is again in the hands of PSV. The formation of trainer Roger Schmidt was not surprised on Sunday afternoon by low flyer VVV-Venlo (0-2 victory), as a result of which the Eindhoveners push their competitor AZ from second place. Both teams are on 61 points from 29 games, but PSV’s goal difference is still decisive: +34 to +28. Cody Gakpo and Donyell Malen, with his seventeenth goal of the season, produced the number two in Venlo.

PSV, with the same line-up as in the home game against Heracles Almelo (3-0) a week ago, got off to the desired start against the number sixteen in the Eredivisie. Eran Zahavi saw his bet go past the VVV goal in the seventh minute. Six minutes later it was still hit for the eager PSV. Olivier Boscagli, who was again preferred to Ibrahim Sangaré, managed to find Malen with a measured pass. The attacker then passed the ball to Gakpo, who opened the score for the visitors with a hard bang: 0-1. PSV kept looking for a second goal against the poor and attackingly impotent VVV, but goals were not yet scored in the first half. Denzel Dumfries claimed another penalty in minute 42, but referee Kevin Blom saw no foul in Christian Kum’s action.

In the first half, only Giorgos Giakoumakis was once really dangerous for VVV with a shot at goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo, but the Greek striker did so in an offside position. After the break, the game picture remained unchanged in Venlo, as the home team failed to make PSV really difficult. After almost an hour of play, PSV doubled the lead, after a nice attack over no less than 21 passes. Malen was the end station of the attack and the the Dutch-international coolly signed for the 0-2. At VVV they seemed to be thinking about mood play, but Blom refused to reject Malen’s goal. A short time later, Giakoumakis committed a somewhat clumsy foul, which resulted in the top scorer being shown a yellow card. He is therefore suspended and therefore misses the game with Sparta Rotterdam on April 24.

Malen could have scored his second goal of the afternoon in the 72nd minute, but his effort flew past the VVV goal. Shortly afterwards, Schmidt decided to send Sangaré and Van Ginkel into the field. The surefire Gakpo and Pablo Rosario were taken to the side by the PSV coach. Malen then again left a good opportunity unused, but the miss did not have far-reaching consequences for the visiting team. PSV is again in second place and continues the hunt for the Champions League ticket on April 24 against Arjen Robben’s FC Groningen.