Chiefs look to maintain winning momentum against Stellenbosch
Chiefs look to maintain winning momentum against Stellenbosch

Posted in News, Team News on Nov 01, 2021.

Kaizer Chiefs will be looking to extend their promising current unbeaten run when they meet Stellenbosch FC at home at FNB Stadium in the DStv Premiership on Tuesday afternoon, in what is a very important week for the club.

Chiefs will be looking for a third successive league win on the trot, and to stretch their unbeaten run to five games, when they meet Stellenbosch in a match kicking off at 15h30 and which will be shown live on SuperSport on the DStv Channel 202.

Amakhosi have two decisive games this week, with the Soweto Derby at home to come on Saturday afternoon in a big week for the club.

But before any thoughts turn to the battle against Orlando Pirates, all focus is on Stellenbosch and continuing the climb up the table with a win.

Stuart Baxter will be looking for a tonic ahead of the Derby, but he will know Stellenbosch will be a tough nut to crack. The team from the Cape Winelands are along with Sundowns one of only two teams yet to taste defeat in the league this season. Of their opening eight games, Stellenbosch have won four games and drawn four in an impressive start for coach Steve Barker’s side.

This will also be the fifth league meeting between the sides, with the last three all ending in draws including the corresponding fixture last season which saw Chiefs twice come from behind in a thrilling 2-2 draw.

It was current Chiefs midfielder Phathutshedzo Nange who headed Stellenbosch into a 2-1 lead in the 80th minute before Nkosingiphile Ngcobo found an 85th minute equalizer to make the score 2-2 on the 3rd of April.

The other clash between the teams last term was the first league meeting between the sides in the 2020-21 season, which also ended in a draw and a goalless stalemate with Stellenbosch as hosts.

Whereas the last three meetings between the teams have ended in a draw, Chiefs were big winners when they faced Stellenbosch in a league game for the first time during the 2019-20 season, returning from the Western Cape with a 4-0 win on the 27th November 2019.

Samir Nurković scored a brace, sandwiched between goals from Siyabonga Ngezana and Dumsani Zuma as Chiefs strolled to a comfortable win.

Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter will be looking for more of the same when Chiefs host Stellenbosch and will be buoyed by recent wins over Chippa United and SuperSport United, the latter game seeing Amakhosi end SuperSport’s unbeaten start to the season.

Baxter, will lead Chiefs for a 99th time in a league game, will be hoping for a good result on a milestone afternoon which will see him overtake Ernst Middendorp and become the Chiefs coach who has stood in the second most number of league games as Chiefs coach in the PSL era. Only Muhsin Ertugral has been in charge of more league games for Chiefs since 1996-97.

Baxter will be happy with the way his team have begun to gel with a number of players producing stellar performances. Keagan Dolly will look to influence the game once again, as he has had six goal involvements in his last three games which have seen him contribute with three goals and make three further assists. He and Khama Billiat have linked up well, with Nange, Njabulo Ngcobo, Thabani Dube and Daniel Akpeyi all proving the critics wrong with their recent showings.

A win against second-placed Stellenbosch is vital for Chiefs and three points against the visitors from the Western Cape could see Chiefs climb up to fourth place in the standings. On a week with six points on offer things could be very different for Amakhosi by the end of the week should they claim all the points on offer.

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