Ajax blasted Heerenveen away before half-time as they recorded a crushing home victory in the Eredivisie.

All six goals in the match came before the break, with Ajax surging 4-0 ahead before Heerenveen managed to respond.

Demy de Zeeuw hit the opening goal after seven minutes when Vurnon Anita found the midfielder who turned 10 yards from goal and slammed a right-footed shot into the top right corner.

De Zeeuw also hit the second after 24 minutes when he was found by Jan Vertonghen's long pass and powered into the penalty area before rifling his shot into the left corner.

Marko Pantelic stretched the lead to 3-0 four minutes later with a low shot from 12 yards, and Luis Suarez heaped the misery on Heerenveen in the 35th minute.

The striker was pulled down by Oussama Assaidi inside the penalty area and struck the spot-kick into the bottom right of goal.

Heerenveen had been unable to cope with the attacking might of their hosts, but they briefly were given hope in the 39th minute when Viktor Elm's pass presented Goran Popov with a chance and his left-footed strike from the edge of the penalty area found the upper left corner.

However Ajax restored their four-goal lead a minute later when Suarez centred from the left and Ismail Aissati applied the required close-range finish.

With the damage inflicted, Ajax could relax. They had chances in the second half to stretch their lead though, the first of which came on the hour mark when Pantelic presented De Zeeuw with a chance to complete a hat-trick but the lobbed finish went centimetres wide.

Midfielder Gabri then beat Heerenveen Brian Vandenbussche but saw his shot go just wide, and with four minutes remaining Urby Emanuelson also sent a shot just off target from the right side of the penalty area.

Ajax remain in third place, but they are now just one point behind second-placed PSV Eindhoven, with FC Twente a further five points better off.