Ajax and PSV meet on Saturday in a game that already feels bigger than the calendar says it is. It is an early battle for a psychological lead in the title race, and it comes with both sides carrying absences and, for Ajax, three possible debutants.
Ajax have turned their season into a scoring run while staying unbeaten through nine games across all competitions. They have already scored 30 goals, but they have also conceded 12, and nine of those arrived in a four-game spell in mid to late August. PSV, meanwhile, have shaken off a rough start after the Johan Cruyff Shield loss to AZ, responding with a 5-1 win over FC Groningen and a 6-1 away win at FC Utrecht.
That is why this Ajax Vs PSV meeting has become the search of the day. Ajax have reshaped their squad with 11 signings in the transfer window, and the new faces are beginning to matter. Julian Brandt has scored three goals, Tolu has four goals and one assist in his last three games, and Marc ter Stegen has opened his Eredivisie spell with 13 saves and two clean sheets in his first three games. He was named to the Eredivisie Team of the Month last week, a reminder that Ajax’s rebuild has already produced some hard numbers, not just fresh shirts.
The flip side is that Ajax’s new look has not yet made them tidy. They have been free-scoring and still unbeaten, but the goals against column tells a different story, and that is where PSV will look for openings. A team can dominate the ball and the scoreboard and still leave space behind it. In a title race, that kind of looseness is not an abstract concern; it is where a rival turns one match into a statement.
PSV bring their own selection questions. Sami Ouaissa, Sam Lammers, Mikkel Bro Hansen, Dennis Man and Kilian Sildillia will miss the match, while Jerdy Schouten and Alassane Plea remain long-term injuries. Sergino Dest has been involved in four goals in three games, and Ruben van Bommel has added two goals and an assist this season, so PSV still have enough edge to punish mistakes. On Friday, Michel Sanchez said Sofyan Amrabat, Viktor Tsygankov and Thilo Kehrer are fit to play and can debut against PSV, leaving Ajax with extra options in a game that may hinge on how quickly those new pieces settle.
The last piece is still unresolved on the PSV side. It is not yet clear whether Ayoni Santos will join the matchday squad after arriving on Deadline Day. That uncertainty matters because this is the sort of fixture where one extra body can change how aggressively a side plays the second half. By Saturday, the question will not be whether Ajax and PSV are contenders. It will be whether Ajax’s new spine is stable enough to handle the defending champions when the title race gets its first real shock test.
