PSV goes to Excelsior Rotterdam on Saturday evening with a record that makes the trip look familiar and unforgiving. Peter Bosz will take charge of his 150th official match as PSV coach, and he could collect his 103rd victory in the same game.
That is why Excelsior Vs PSV is drawing attention now. PSV has won 42 of the 50 previous Eredivisie meetings between the sides, losing five and drawing three, which gives it an 84 percent winning rate against Excelsior in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie. Only Feyenoord has a slightly better mark against Excelsior, at 86 percent, and that is part of what makes this fixture look so one-sided before a ball is kicked.
Excelsior’s home record in the matchup is even harder to ignore. It has not won at Woudestein against PSV since May 27, 1985, when it beat PSV 2-0, and since then it has taken just one point from 15 home matches in the series. PSV has also kept the pressure on deep into those visits, with Excelsior conceding at least two goals in each of the last eleven matches in that home run.
The timing still gives Excelsior a reason to believe it can make this awkward. It opened the new season with a 4-0 win over SC Cambuur, a result built on 13 high turnovers, while PSV came in after a 2-2 draw with Fortuna Sittard. Excelsior’s broader league form is not as clean as that opening-day result suggests, though, because since Matchday 31 of last season it has won four times, drawn once and lost thirteen matches, even if no club in the Eredivisie has earned more points in that span.
That leaves PSV with the stronger numbers and the longer memory, but Bosz still has a milestone sitting in front of him as the match begins. Excelsior can point to its opening win and the noise it created around that performance; PSV can point to the history at Woudestein and the fact that it keeps finding ways to win this pairing. If Excelsior is going to turn the script, it has to do it against a team that has dominated the matchup for decades and against a coach closing in on another personal benchmark.
Excelsior Rotterdam and PSV kick off at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, and the question is whether the home side can finally make its best recent result matter against the opponent it has struggled to beat for nearly 40 years.
