With Tsuyoshi Watanabe out after picking up a minor injury during the international break, Jeremiah St. Juste returned to the heart of Feyenoord's defence alongside Mika Marmol, while Luciano Valente started on the left wing once again.
For AZ, star midfielder Kees Smit was the biggest omission from the starting XI; the Dutch U21 international suffered an injury during warm-ups earlier this week and will miss the next few weeks. Former Feyenoord winger Calvin Stengs replaced Smit in the starting XI.
Feyenoord dominated the opening phase and came close to breaking the ice several times, but Oussama Targhalline, Valente, and St. Juste's efforts weren't enough to get Feyenoord on the scoresheet.
Nacho Ferri was handed a one-on-one on a golden plate when Wouter Goes headed the ball straight at the Spanish striker, who dashed at De Busser and safely slotted the ball past the Belgian stopper's near post.
Fresh off his Oranje debut, Mexx Meerdink found himself in a one-on-one with Tjark Ernst, who didn't have to do much to keep the young striker from erasing Feyenoord's lead off the board within 90 seconds.
Meerdink became a problem for the Feyenoord defence and looked to punish it shortly before half-time, forcing Ernst to take him down and earn a penalty, but after a lengthy VAR check, referee Danny Makkelie ruled the contact too minimal to award the spot-kick.
With little threat from the dormant league leaders, Nacho Ferri threatened to get AZ on the ropes before Real Sociedad loanee Javi Lopez doubled Feyenoord's lead on the cusp of the hour mark, heading home from a corner to put the hosts on a bed of roses.
Feyenoord weren't done yet and got several chances to put the game to bed, but Valente and substitute Tobias van den Elshout lacked the killer instinct to finish AZ off. On the other end, Ayoub Oufkir and Bendeguz Kovacs showed the same issues, thus keeping Feyenoord in the driver's seat for the final minutes.
For the first time since November 2025, Feyenoord took the top spot in the Eredivisie, courtesy of a 2-0 win over Leeroy Echteld's disappointing AZ. Both teams face a quick turnaround for their European ventures, with Feyenoord hosting Como in the UEFA Champions League and AZ facing Hapoel Beer Sheva in the UEFA Europa League next week.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Charles Vanhoutte (Feyenoord)
Catch up with the full match and player statistics on Flashscore