Warmerdam haunts former club in Amsterdam
FC Utrecht came to Amsterdam knowing that Ajax had scored 22 goals in their previous four home matches and had not conceded.
It is the toughest stadium to win at in the Netherlands and the visitors didn’t have high hopes of a result.
However, Utrecht started aggressively and didn’t give Ajax the room to let them play their own football.
Nevertheless Ajax still managed to create two chances in the first half. The biggest one was for Sebastien Haller who placed a shot over the crossbar from close range.
FC Utrecht got to half-time without conceding and were relatively comfortable.
In the second half Ajax took control of the game and started to create more chances. After an hour, Daley Blind, Davy Klaassen and Antony came off the bench to try and force a breakthrough.
FC Utrecht were happy to time-waste and take a point. But out of nowhere they were in dreamland as a swift counter attack ended with Django Warmerdam scoring with 13 minutes to go to leave the home crowd silent.
The former Ajax youth product scored with a shot from distance that found the bottom corner. It was the first goal that the hosts had conceded at home this season.
In the final 15 minutes, Utrecht held on and even almost found a second goal, but Mimoun Mahi’s shot went just wide.
Only PSV are able to profit from Ajax loss
PSV played on Sunday evening against Sparta Rotterdam with the pressure of knowing that they had the unforeseen opportunity of capitalising on an Ajax home defeat.
PSV had won 1-0 in four of their previous home matches against the visitors with all goals coming in the second half and it was yet another close encounter in Eindhoven.
Sparta sat deep and the hosts found it tough to break them down. In the first half, Ibrahim Sangare and Ritsu Doan had shots from distance but Maduka Okoye was on hand to save.
With time passing by in the second half, PSV were getting frustrated as chances went begging. Eran Zahavi hit the post and had a header stopped by Okoye.
But finally, in the 82nd minute, a powerful shot from Sangare beat Okoye and found the net to give PSV the lead.
Sparta now had to attack and this gave more space to PSV. Three minutes later, it was 2-0 as Ryan Thomas doubled Roger Schmidt’s side’s lead.
Sparta Rotterdam managed to pull one back through Lennart Thy but it was just a consolation as PSV reduced Ajax’s lead to just one point.
Other results
Feyenoord were unable to join PSV on 18 points as they fell to a 2-1 defeat to Vitesse Arnhem.
Vitesse took the lead after six minutes following a mistake by defender Marcos Senesi that allowed Ikoma Lois Openda to score.
Just before the hour mark, Guus Til scored his sixth goal of the season for Feyenoord making him the league’s top goalscorer.
Only 30 seconds into the second half, Openda scored again after another mistake in the Feyenoord defence.
It was a messy end to the game as Vitesse went down to nine men after some time-wasting and cynical behaviour. They managed to hold on for the win and move up to eighth in the table.
Willem II couldn’t continue their brilliant start to the season as they were beaten 3-2 in Almelo by Heracles.
FC Twente could also not extend their four-game winning streak as they drew 1-1 against Groningen.
How it stands
Despite suffering their first defeat of the season, Ajax are top of the table with 19 points, a point ahead of PSV.
✅ 7/34! 👀 @PSV en @fcutrecht komen weer dichterbij @AFCAjax…. pic.twitter.com/bSDiDsQvWf
— Eredivisie (@eredivisie) October 3, 2021
Utrecht were the big winners of the weekend, they moved up to third after their famous win in Amsterdam.
Feyenoord’s defeat means they drop to fifth but they have a game in hand on their rivals and can move up to second if they win.
At the bottom of the table, PEC Zwolle are the only team without a win and have just a point from eight games.
