A week after losing out to their township rivals Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 Final, Kaizer Chiefs return on Saturday afternoon to the FNB Stadium at the Soccer City complex in Johannesburg to face off with the Buccaneers in an Absa Premiership clash.

Last weekend’s cup final defeat was followed up by a 2-1 loss in somewhat unfortunate circumstances on Wednesday to Ajax Cape Town in a league game.

Following on those two defeats the Amakhosi will be looking to get their league campaign back on track with a win over Pirates.

Chiefs head into the game minus Tinashe Nengomasha, the midfield general is suspended for the derby after picking up his third yellow card of the season, during the loss to Ajax.

For the rest Chiefs are at full strength for the game.

The Recent History

Pirates are undoubtedly Chiefs biggest rivals historically and in terms of support, the teams' rivalry spans many years going back to the formation of Chiefs in 1970.

In the PSL era the sides have squared off 30 times since 1996 – 1997.

The head to head results are fairly balanced with Chiefs winning eight, Pirates six and sixteen games ending in a draw.

Pirates dominated the early PSL clashes between the sides, the turning point coming in 1998 – 1999 when the Amakhosi recorded their first PSL era victory over Pirates in a 2-1 triumph in February 1999.

Last season Chiefs defeated Pirates 3-1 in their away league encounter while the corresponding fixture ended 1-1 with Pirates grabbing an injury time equalizer, Chiefs have not lost a league match against Pirates since May 2009.

On the other side the Amakhosi’s last league triumph at home over Pirates was in May 2008.

The Match Up

In just over two full seasons as Chiefs coach Amakhosi mentor Vladimir Vermezovic will be playing Pirates for a tenth time in official competition on Saturday, it will be his fifth league game against Pirates.

The Amakhosi also have a rivalry with current Pirates coach Julio Leal, as coach of PSL sides AmaZulu and Moroka Swallows the Brazilian coach lost just once in four league games against Chiefs, while his sides won the other three.

With the occasion based on tradition and history the Amakhosi will be looking to preserve their unbeaten run in league action against Pirates, and improve their record against teams coach by Julio Leal.