PSV vs Real Betis

Philips Stadion plays host to an exciting pre-season friendly between PSV Eindhoven and Real Betis.

PSV Eindhoven put cross-town rivals Eindhoven to the sword in their most recent pre-season outing, cruising to an overwhelming 5-0 triumph to arrest a poor run of three friendlies without winning (D1, L2). However, Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men have flopped against Europe’s top-flight sides this summer, losing both exhibition matches to Villarreal and Arminia Bielefeld by an aggregate score of 6-1. Regardless of PSV’s topsy-turvy spell of form, the scoring ratio in their recent outings has been nothing if not consistent. Indeed, their last 12 games have featured over 2.5 overall goals, with nine seeing both teams on the scoresheet. Worryingly, though, barring a couple of pre-season wins over lower-league teams Lohne and Eindhoven, the ‘Farmers’ have not kept a clean sheet in ten of their last 12 fixtures.

In the meantime, Real Betis could only manage an underwhelming ‘nil-nil’ draw to Austrian minnows Grodig in their opening pre-season friendly. However, that result forms part of Betis’ eye-catching run of four consecutive clean sheets, including the 2021/22 La Liga season (W2, D2). After narrowly missing out on a top-four La Liga finish last term, ‘Los Verdiblancos’ will hope to do one better next season, but a poor scoring output requires immediate attention. Manuel Pellegrini’s men have failed to get on the scoresheet in their last two outings, which had been the case in three of their seven fixtures beforehand. On top of that, four of Betis’ last five matches away from home have ended goalless (W1).