Never before in the storied history of one of Dutch football's most famous fixtures have the fortunes of both clubs been so contrasting as they are ahead of Sunday's showdown between bitter rivals PSV Eindhoven and Ajax at Philips Stadium.
While the home side have been faultless domestically this season, leading the way in the Eredivisie with a 100% record, Ajax have suffered the worst run of form in their entire history and inconceivably languish in the relegation zone after seven games ahead of the latest edition of De Topper.
Match preview
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PSV Eindhoven continue to strive for their first Eredivisie title in seven years, as Peter Bosz's side remain the only team in the league with an unblemished record in the first quarter of the season, winning nine of a possible nine games.
However, in midweek they were held to a 1-1 draw with Lens despite taking the lead early in the second half, leaving them bottom of their Champions League group with two points from their opening three games.
The team's somewhat poorer form at the European level is more than made up for by their performances in domestic competitions, as the fluid attacking football Bosz has promoted has seen PSV Eindhoven score three or more goals in their last eight consecutive games.
The team have been unstoppable both home and away, scoring 15 goals each, with three or more goals in four of the five home games.
They are also as impressive defensively as they are offensively, conceding just three goals in nine Eredivisie games this season, including only two at home.
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Ajax, on the other hand, have little to be happy about this season. The 36-time Eredivisie winners have made the worst start to a season in the club's history and are currently 17th in the table, just one point ahead of bottom-placed Volendam.
Their disastrous campaign continued with another defeat in midweek, when interim boss Hedwiges Maduro's first game at the helm ended in a 2-0 loss at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Europa League.
Not for the first time this season, the four-time champions of Europe were almost unrecognisable in that match, with Brighton recording the most passes and the highest possession of any Ajax opponent on record en route to their first-ever continental triumph.
Maduro will now turn his attention to the Eredivisie for the first time in the hope of overseeing some improvement on that front, after Maurice Steijn was dismissed in the wake of their chaotic, stomach-churning defeat to Utrecht last weekend.
Having shown some otherwise elusive fight to recover from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 courtesy of three goals in 13 minutes, Ajax then quickly let that newfound lead slip, prompting the away fans at Utrecht's Stadion Galgenwaard to throw missiles onto the pitch in protest.
The referee duly halted the match and took the players off the pitch, only for Utrecht to then score a last-minute 4-3 winner upon the resumption to pour salt into the wound of Ajax and hammer the final nail into Steijn's coffin, as he left with the lowest points-per-game ratio of any manager in the club's history.
That was a fourth successive league defeat for the fallen giants, during which time they have conceded 13 goals, while they are now winless in six games domestically since beating Heracles 4-1 on the opening day of the season, two-and-a-half months ago.
Indeed, in all competitions Ajax are now winless in nine matches since their Europa League qualifying triumph over Ludogorets on August 24 - their longest drought since football became professional in Netherlands almost 70 years ago.
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Bosz will again have to do without Armando Obispo and Mauro Junior this weekend, joined on the sidelines by Noa Lang.
The 24-year-old left forward suffered an injury in the 4-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam more than two weeks ago and has not yet fully recovered.
Hirving Lozano is expected to take his place on the left, although the Mexican international has not been at his best this season with just one goal in five games.
PSV's main dangerman is striker Luuk de Jong, who is the third-highest scorer in the league in 2023-24 with seven goals.
The visitors will be missing Geronimo Rulli, Sivert Mannsverk and Amourricho van Axel Dongen, with Devyne Rensch, Jay Gorter and Georges Mikautadze also on the injured list.
Steven Bergwijn is Ajax's most successful attacker with three goals, but otherwise the visitors lack quality in the attacking third this season, which is reflected in the low number of goals scored.
PSV Eindhoven possible starting lineup:
Benitez; Teze, Ramalho, Boscagli, Dest; Tillman, Schouten, Veerman; Bakayoko, Lozano, de Jong
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Ramaj; Gaaei, Sutalo, Hato, Sosa; Berghuis, Tahirovic, Taylor; Bergwijn, Borges, Brobbey
We say: PSV Eindhoven 3-1 Ajax
It is still shocking to think that the most decorated team in the history of Dutch football could possibly be relegated this season. However, in purely mathematical terms, the situation for Ajax has worsened in recent weeks.
PSV Eindhoven, on the other hand, will want to take advantage of Ajax's difficulties to consolidate their place at the top of the table.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
