Amakhosi coach Stuart Baxter shares his thoughts ahead of Chiefs’ DStv Premiership clash on Saturday evening at 19h30 at FNB Stadium, with the coach well aware of the importance of every one of Chiefs remaining 11 league games.

Preparations for Arrows:

We had a weekend where we did not have a game because of the Nedbank Cup. We have had a normal build up for the Arrows game, everything has been sharp it has been good. The training has been pretty intensive, the weather has not been kind to us. It makes training a little bit more intensive, but the players have approached it well and all the work has been done with good intensity.

On facing Golden Arrows:

Golden Arrows are capable of beating any team in the league, they are capable of giving us an unpleasant experience. Unless we are up for that challenge, focused and concentrated, we can expect a very difficult football evening.

Title challenge:

We are in a decent space, in a position where we think we can do better. I any game we do have periods where we play very well. Our challenge is to make sure that intensity stays for 90 minutes, game after game. We are in the position that Liverpool found themselves in, at any time our aspirations can be shot dead. We take every game as it comes, and we hope that when the pressure builds, we are actually more in the race than we thought we were. We don’t go for the champions league spot now, what we go for is every game to bring as much pressure on the leaders as we can. If they manage that pressure and we don’t get closer to them then a Champions League spot will be the result of us looking to put pressure on the leaders.

On Arrows style:

Arrows can play very well, they are very mobile, very aggressive and very efficient. Our job is to make sure they don’t fall into that rhythm and get the game that they want, that they have to play a game that they are not very good at. That’s the same with every opponent, if they want to fight you then we will play football, if they want to play football, then we will fight them. We have to do what they don’t want.

Personnel readiness:

We have Samir Nurković back after suspension. Cole Alexander is still out, S’fiso Hlanti is still out and Leonardo Castro is also out. Everyone will be back in normal training after the FIFA break. Cole is training with us, he still has the elbow problem, Castro is running at the moment.

*Brandon Petersen is a late injury exclusion from the team and will be out for three weeks.