Article by Romeo Ene – Published Saturday, January 10, 2026, 8:07 p.m. / Updated Saturday, January 10, 2026, 8:08 p.m.
PSV – Excelsiorin the 18th stage of the Dutch championship, is played tonight, from 21:00. The Romanian international Dennis Man (27 years old) is the starter in the first match of 2026. The duel will be liveTEXT on GSP.ro and televised by Prima Sport 3.
The holiday is over for the Dutch champion. Man's side finished 2025 in first place with 46 points, 11 more than main challengers Feyenoord.
PSV – Excelsior, LIVE at 21:00
PSV – Excelsior, starting teams
PSV (4-3-3): Kovar – Dest, Flamingo, Gasiorowski, Mauro Júnior – Wanner, Veerman, Til – Man, Pepi, Perisic
reserves: Smolenaars, Schiks, Bajraktarevic, Bawuah, Driouech, N. Fernandez, Obispo, Sildillia, van den Berg, Verkooijen
Coach: Peter Bosz
Excelsior (4-3-3): Van Gassel – Bronkhorst, Widell, Meissen, Janssen – Yegoian, Hartjes, Naujoks – Sanchez Fernandes, Bergraaf, de Regt
reserves: Raatsie, Carlen, Hansson, Henderikx, Martens, Schouten, M. Tielemans, van Duinen, Zagre
Coach: Ruben den Uil
Referee: Joey Kooij
Stadium: Philips stadium
First match of 2026 for Dennis Man & PSV
PSV resumes the title fight with a home game against Excelsior. Because of the Africa Cup of Nations, coach Peter Bosz will make some changes to the first “11”.
PSV narrowly won their last game before the winter break, 2-1 away to Utrecht. After this success, the lead over the second place, Feyenoord, reached 11 points. Excelsior is coming off an important 2-1 win against Zwolle, a result that counts a lot in the fight to stay in the first league.
For this match, PSV's coach cannot rely on more players. Ismael Saibari and Anass Salah-Eddine are in the Moroccan national team, qualified in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup. Jerdy Schouten is also missing after receiving a red card against Utrecht and is suspended.
In the last direct match, PSV prevailed at Excelsior's ground, score 2-1, on September 27, 2025.
We realized in the meantime that we don't just win every game. This idea should not exist when you play at PSV. We will have to give everything, we saw that last year.
If everyone stays, I'm very happy with this lot. People think that when you sell someone, you have to immediately buy a replacement.
But, of course, that's not the case, because group dynamics also come into play. Everyone needs their own place in a batch. It always takes time for things to bond. I prefer to keep everything the same.
– Peter BoszPSV's coach, before the match with Excelsior
Ranking in the Eredivisie
