Almere Cityvs.PSV

These sides have made contrasting starts to the new season, with the hosts yet to earn a point heading into gameweek three, while the visitors have won both their opening fixtures.

Match preview

After managing to survive their first-ever campaign in the Dutch top-flight in 2023-24, Almere City have made the worst start imaginable to the new season and are yet to earn a point this term.

De Zwarte Schapen looked solid in pre-season, notching up wins over Samsunspor, Borussia Dortmund II and RKC Waalwijk without conceding a goal but they are now the ones that have yet to find the back of the net this season.

Hedwiges Maduro, who replaced Alex Pastoor as the club's manager at the start of July, watched his side reduced to nine men in their first-ever Eredivisie match, which they lost 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar on the opening weekend.

That was followed by a very poor defensive performance last week on the road against Fortuna Sittard, where his side conceded two cheap goals en route to a 3-0 defeat.

Unfortunately for the hosts, next up is PSV, a side that dominated the top flight last season, beat them convincingly home and away last term and scored 11 goals against them while keeping clean sheets in both matches.

Meanwhile, PSV romped to their 25th league title last season and their first since 2018 in some style, as they went an incredible 17 matches from the start of the campaign without dropping a single point.

In the end, PSV won the title seven points clear of their closest rivals Feyenoord and their performance last season earned the team comparisons to the legendary 1987-88 Guus Hiddink-coached side that won the treble.

Central to the Farmers' success last season was the form of Luuk de Jong, who netted an incredible 27 goals and won the Golden Boot, though the 33-year-old is yet to get off the mark this season.

Nevertheless, Peter Bosz's side are already the highest scorers in the division after the first two weeks with eight goals after kicking of the season with a 5-0 thumping of RKC Waalwijk before coming from behind to beat Heracles 3-1 on the road last week.

PSV scored a whopping 111 goals and went through the entire last season suffering just one league defeat, while they also conceded the fewest goals of any side in the division (21).

Almere City Eredivisie form:

PSV Eindhoven Eredivisie form:

Team News

Almere City are set to continue without the services of Ricardo Visus and Baptiste Guillaume, the two players who were sent off in their opening weekend loss to AZ Alkmaar.

Thomas Robinet picked up a knock last week against Fortuna Sittard and is a slight doubt, while Theo Barbet is ruled out until at least next month due to an ankle injury in pre-season.

PSV, on the other hand, are missing four first-team players at present, starting with right-back Sergino Dest, who is still on the road to recovery after sustaining a cruciate ligament tear in July.

Dest will be joined on the sidelines by Mauro Junior (hamstring), Armando Obispo (knee) and Ismael Saibari (knock), though the latter is expected to return to action in the next week or two.

Almere City possible starting lineup:

Bakker; Akunjobi, Jacobs, Floranus, Zagaritis; Resink, Balboa, Hansen, Nalic, Van de Kamp; Robinet

PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:

Benitez; Ledezma, Flamingo, Boscagli, Oppegard; Schouten, Veerman; Bakayoko, Tillman, Lang; De Jong

We say: Almere City 0-3 PSV Eindhoven

Both these sides have made completely contrasting starts to this season and it is difficult to make much of a case for Almere City against this opponent. PSV look well on their way to defending their title and we fancy them to secure a comfortable three points in this one.

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