THE HAGUE, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- PSV and Ajax have shown that they are way ahead of their competitors in the Dutch Eredivisie this season as both clubs won in the 16th round of the competition.
Ajax thrashed De Graafschap 8-0 at home on Sunday after a 3-0 score at half-time.
Dusan Tadic smashed home the opening goal, Noussair Mazraoui produced the second goal, followed by hat-tricks from Hakim Ziyech and Daley Blind.
On Saturday, league leaders PSV beat Heracles 4-0 in Almelo. Steven Bergwijn led the visitors in the right direction with an early goal after a solo effort. Daniel Schwaab, Denzel Dumfries and Gaston Pereiro also scored, with the latter missing a penalty and Heracles finishing the match with nine players due to red cards for Jesper Drost and Lennart Czyborra.
PSV keep the lead in the Eredivisie with 45 points after 16 matches and remain two points clear of Ajax. Both teams now have exactly the same goal difference.
After five wins in a row, number three ranked Feyenoord suffered a surprising 2-0 defeat against Fortuna Sittard in Rotterdam.
Lars Hutten put Fortuna in front after a counter attack and in injury time Ahmed El Messaoudi secured the victory for the visitors. Also on Sunday, FC Utrecht recorded a 3-2 away win over SC Heerenveen.
Feyenoord are now 10 points behind PSV and eight points ahead of FC Utrecht. AZ climbed to the fifth place with a 2-1 win over Excelsior on Saturday in Alkmaar. Both AZ and Vitesse, who beat VVV-Venlo 2-1 are on 25 points, three behind FC Utrecht and two ahead of Heracles.
Next weekend PSV finish the first half of the season with a home match against AZ and Ajax await an away match against FC Utrecht.
