PSV coach Peter Bosz expects a difficult test as his team host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday, when they could be without Luuk de Jong and Noah Lang. (More Football News)
Captain De Jong and Netherlands international Lang both missed Saturday's 5-0 Eredivisie win over Groningen, though former Barcelona striker De Jong returned to training on Monday.
Both players are considered doubtful for their upcoming clash with Ukrainian champions Shakhtar, as PSV bid to improve on their record of five points from four league-phase games.
They sit one point above Shakhtar, who are just outside the play-off places in 28th. While the Opta supercomputer gives PSV an 80% chance of sealing a top-24 finish, Shakhtar's hopes are rated at a mere 11%.
"We have to win at home, but that doesn't just happen. You don't just grab the points," Bosz said.
"They have very good footballers in the team and, for example, lost very unluckily and narrowly at Arsenal.
"It is a team that wants to play football and wants to build up, with a goalkeeper (Dmytro Riznyk) who plays along. They want to play with short combinations from the back.
"They dared to do that in London, with a rather daring build-up. With that they also pushed Arsenal back at times, which was impressive. They have players with individual qualities up front. We will have to work hard."
After hosting Shakhtar, PSV go to surprise package Brest on matchday six and round out their group-phase campaign against Red Star Belgrade and Liverpool in the new year.
A run of winnable fixtures before they face Arne Slot's Reds has amplified talk of PSV reaching the playoffs, but Bosz was uninterested in making any predictions.
"I'm not really calculating, I try to keep it as simple as possible," he said. "If you look at the points, you see how close it is and therefore how important tomorrow's match is.
"We do not yet know how many points we will need. We will see that afterwards."
