PSV vs Real Sociedad

PSV Eindhoven and Real Sociedad are set to trade tackles at the Philips Stadion in an intriguing Europa League Group B opener.

Last season’s Eredivisie runners-up PSV compete in the Europa League group stage for the third year running after falling flat in the Champions League play-offs against Benfica. The ‘Farmers’ will hope to at least manage last season’s feat when they made it out of the group stage and can draw confidence from winning their final three Europa League home matches in 2020/21. A potential win here would see PSV put together four straight victories in the competition proper for the first time since 2009/10. However, the Dutch giants will have to defy their dismal overall European record against Spanish sides (W5, D12, L15) to beat Real Sociedad in their first-ever UEFA-sanctioned meeting. They can find courage in their 100% start to this Eredivisie campaign (W4), with all four of those triumphs yielding a 2+ goal margin.

On the other hand, Real Sociedad bounced back from a 4-2 away loss to Barcelona on the opening La Liga weekend, racking up three consecutive league victories ‘to nil.’ Therefore, confidence should be high among the traveling supporters as ‘La Real’ look to register a third clean sheet in as many European encounters against Dutch opposition (W1, D1). The Basque heavyweights’ upturn in domestic form over the past couple of years sees Sociedad featuring in major UEFA European competition proper in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1987/88. Real Sociedad went unbeaten in all four Europa League away fixtures last season (W1, D3), with each of them containing under 2.5 total goals. Low scoring could be a theme here, given that both of Sociedad’s previous clashes against Eredivisie sides produced one goal or less.