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By Sibongiseni Gumbi

Football Writer


Chiefs with a chance to sneak up on Sundowns in league title race

Currently, 16 points separate Chiefs and Sundowns and a win for Amakhosi against Golden Arrows will cut it to 13.


With Mamelodi Sundowns out of the country on Champions League business this weekend, Kaizer Chiefs have a chance to narrow the gap between them and the defending champions in the DStv Premiership. 

But even if Amakhosi beat Golden Arrows on Saturday night and earn the three points, the gap between them and Sundowns will still be too wide.

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Currently, 16 points separate these two giants of South African football and a win for Amakhosi will cut it to 13. 

Some have conceded that Sundowns have the league in the bag already, Amakhosi’s Stuart Baxter however believes they can still pick-pocket the Tshwane side and take the trophy to Naturena. 

“We have to bring pressure to bear on Sundowns. If we can beat Orlando Pirates, which we have done and if we are given those two games (in hand) to play, it’s a potential six points,”  said Baxter after the recent Soweto derby. 

“And if we have to play Sundowns one more time. If we can beat them in that game and keep breathing down their neck, maybe they will drop a few points. They’re engaged on more than one front; they know that it’s their league to lose. 

“I’d be a fool to say we are going to (win the league). What we are going to do is we are going to breathe down their neck for as long as we can, as hard as we can, so that when we actually play them it means something,” added Baxter.

Amakhosi have two games hanging as they await a ruling on their matter by a Safa Arbitrator which is expected on Wednesday. 

Chiefs did not play two of their games in December after a reported Covid-19 outbreak that ruled 31 of their players and support staff unavailable for games. They have been charged by the PSL for failing to honour their fixtures but they escalated the matter to arbitration which sat on Tuesday. 

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