Kaizer Chiefs resumed training on Monday as they prepare for their Castle Premiership clash against Ajax Cape Town at Soccer City on Thursday and defender Cyril Nzama believes their title credentials will be severely tested in the next two fixtures.

They play Ajax at home on Thursday in the first round league match and then hit the road the following day for an away game to Golden Arrows on Sunday. Maximum points in these two games could effectively narrow the gap down to two points, depending on the outcome of the match between Pirates and Sundowns on Saturday.

Ajax have always proved a tough cookie as far as Amakhosi are concerned. Last season Chiefs won the home leg 1-0 with Sbusiso Dlamini providing the goal and then drew 0-0 in the return match. They met Ajax on two other occasions last season. They won the Coca-Cola Cup quarterfinals 3-2 and then lost 1-0 in the Absa Cup.

"It's not going to be an easy game because every time we play these guys we seem to rush everything," warned Nzama. "After this match we have another difficult game against Golden Arrows. Since Khabo (Zondo) has taken over they seem to have found their footing."

While Orlando Pirates - with an eight-point lead over Chiefs - are viewed as the odds-on favourites for the title, Nzama, like many of his teammates, believes the fight is far from over.

"We still have a fair chance," he enthused. "In fact we need to win these coming games to catch-up with Pirates as we have two games in hand. If we can win against Ajax and Arrows we will make some ground in the race because we still have to play Pirates on April 30."

The defending champions have been out of league action for almost three weeks as they attended to their African Champions League commitments and provided players for national duty for the 2006 World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifiers.

Amakhosi’s last PSL action was on March 16 against Cape Town Santos at Athlone. Zambian striker Collins Mbesuma provided the only goal of the match as he increased his overall goal tally to 23 in domestic competitions with four in the Champions League.

A total of four Chiefs players were on national duty with various national teams. Nzama played the whole game while goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez was on the bench in the Bafana Bafana side that won 2-1 against Uganda at Soccer City on Saturday.

"We didn't play that well but the most important thing is that we managed to get the three points. We can always improve our performance," said Nzama. "In terms of possession we didn’t keep the ball as much as possible. We played long balls, which is not our style of play and those guys really played as if they were at home."

"I was happy with my overall performance but there’s always room for improvements with regards to some of the aspects of the game," said Nzama.

Midfielder Tinashe Nengomasha played a key role to help Zimbabwe to a shock 2-0 victory against Angola while Mbesuma was on target in Zambia’s 2-0 win over Congo.

Nzama and Fernandez attended Monday’s training, with Nengomasha and Mbesuma rejoining the team on Tuesday.

Ajax have been out of domestic action for much longer - March 1 to be precise. They were scheduled to play title favourites Pirates on March 17 but that match never materialised due to a mysterious stomach bug in the Pirates camp. They got some competitive action on March 20 in their African Champions League second leg second round clash against ASFA Yennenga.

Chefs will, without doubt, have their hands full in defending the league title and shuttling across the continent in their quest for Champions League glory. They made it through to the third round but qualifying for the group stages might not be as easy as they first have to deal with former champions Esperance of Tunisia.

"That's a big one (the Esperance game) but I think it was a blessing in disguise for us to play them away in the first leg and then our second leg here at home," said Nzama.