With chasers Feyenoord playing a tricky away game at FC Twente on Sunday, PSV knew that a win at Heracles Almelo could see them restore their 17-point lead at the top of the Eredivisie table.
PSV were handed a golden opportunity to get off to a hot start in Almelo when Australian midfielder Rhys Bozinovski took down Sergino Dest in the box, causing a penalty. Ivan Perisic stepped up and converted to hand PSV the lead in the ninth minute.
Just a few minutes later, Moroccan midfield star Ismael Saibari showed his individual class with a beautiful goal that doubled PSV's lead. Saibari picked up a loose ball, took it to the edge of the box and curled it into the top corner.
Australian international Ajdin Hrustic tested PSV stopper Matej Kovar with a free kick, which remained the only worthwhile effort from Heracles' first half.
PSV started bombarding Remko Pasveer's goal and broke the 40-year-old goalkeeper late in the first half via Dennis Man, whose free kick blew right past a flailing Pasveer to put the game beyond Heracles' reach before the break.
Pasveer made up for it in the second half, preventing Perisic, Ricardo Pepi, and Saibari from adding to PSV's commanding lead, which was never put under pressure by the relegation-threatened hosts.
Heracles had little to play for in the final stages of the match, but still accounted for the moment of the day when Lequincio Zeefuik fired in a worldie in the top left corner out of nowhere.
Unfortunately for the home crowd, that was all Heracles wrote on Saturday evening as PSV took home the three points and at least temporarily extended their Eredivisie lead to 17 points. Heracles are left to fight a mammoth relegation battle with Telstar and NAC Breda now four and five points clear of the bottom feeders.
Check out the match and player statistics on Flashscore
