🏏 Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:30 CEST
PSV Eindhoven
vs
FC Groningen
4-3-3 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Matchday 3 of the Eredivisie pits sixth-placed PSV against a Groningen side that has won both of its opening fixtures. Groningen sit third on six points with six goals scored and only two conceded (+4), trailing leaders AZ Alkmaar, who have nine points from three games. PSV have four points from a win and a draw with a goal difference of +1, meaning a home victory would lift them above their visitors in the table.
- The two sides arrived here by very different routes. PSV drew 2-2 at home with Fortuna Sittard on the opening weekend before recovering to win 2-1 away at Excelsior. Groningen beat Utrecht 2-1 at home and then thrashed ADO Den Haag 4-1 on the road, a haul of six goals in two matches that has them unbeaten heading into Eindhoven.
- PSV's 4-3-3 against Groningen's 4-2-3-1 makes the midfield battle decisive. Guus Til, the 28-year-old attacking midfielder who scored a hat-trick against Ajax on his PSV debut and once moved from AZ to Spartak Moscow for 18 million euros, operates alongside 21-year-old left-footer Noah Fernandez, a PSV academy product since the age of seven, and Kodai Sano. Groningen answer with a double pivot of Tigo Land and Tika de Jonge shielding the back four.
- Ricardo Pepi faces the club that rescued his career. The 23-year-old American striker struggled at Augsburg before a loan spell at Groningen restored his confidence, after which he helped PSV to the Eredivisie title. With 35 caps and 13 goals for the United States and a record as the youngest hat-trick scorer in FC Dallas history, his movement inside the box remains his sharpest weapon.
- There is a reunion in the other direction too. Groningen's Tigo Land, wearing number 18, is on loan from PSV: a 20-year-old central midfielder who stands just 168cm but sets the tempo with quick, clean passing and has represented the Netherlands at youth level. Starting in central midfield at his parent club's ground is a serious test of whether he can cope with PSV's pressure.
- Japan international prospect Kodai Sano lines up in the centre of PSV's midfield. The 22-year-old rose from Fagiano Okayama to NEC Nijmegen and then to PSV, and his game is built on ball-winning and accurate distribution in both phases. He played at a World Cup with Japan's Under-20s and, like his brother Kaishu at Mainz, is a rising asset; finding space to turn forward against Groningen's two holding midfielders will define his afternoon.
- On PSV's left flank stands 37-year-old Ivan Perisic, a Croatia international with 142 caps and 33 goals whose career has taken in Inter, Bayern Munich, Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund. He strikes and crosses accurately with both feet and is dangerous in the air. Groningen's back line, by contrast, leans on academy graduates such as 190cm 21-year-old Thijmen Blokzijl and 22-year-old left-back Wouter Prins, so the gap in experience should be stark.
- The goalkeeping contrast is worth watching. PSV field 196cm Czech Matej Kovar, 26, a modern keeper comfortable with the ball at his feet who has passed through Bayer Leverkusen and Manchester United and was voted the Czech league's best goalkeeper. Groningen counter with 31-year-old Etienne Vaessen, 189cm, who made 196 appearances across nine years at RKC Waalwijk and is renowned for his reflexes and close-range stops.
- Both benches carry genuine match-changers. PSV can call on 20-year-old Paul Wanner, the youngest player ever to appear for Bayern Munich, who scored six goals in 41 Bundesliga matches on loan at Heidenheim and debuted for Austria in March 2026, plus Romania winger Dennis Man, 27, once sold from FCSB to Parma for a record 11 million euros. Groningen have Sweden international Jakob Ondrejka, signed on loan from Parma in August 2026, and 192cm Polish target man Oskar Zawada, 30.