SuperSport United will be looking to exact their revenge on Tshwane rivals Mamelodi Sundowns when they face off in their next DStv Premiership encounter at the Lucas Moripe Stadium on Friday evening.
Matsatsantsa comes into this match looking to return to winning ways after they were eliminated from the MTN8 competition at the quarter-final stage following their 2-0 loss to Sundowns through goals from Marcelo Allende and Abubeker Nasir at the ABSA Tuks Stadium this past weekend.
When the two teams squared off in the DStv Premiership last campaign, Sundowns claimed the bragging rights in the Tshwane derby after they walked away with four points out of a possible six following their 2-2 draw in the first leg followed by a narrow 1-0 win in the return leg.
SuperSport will go into this encounter sitting in 14th place on the table with five points from five matches, while Sundowns are placed second in the league standings with 10 points from their first five matches.
“Playing SuperSport is always a tough match regardless of the competition and regardless of the frequency to how many times you have played them and what was the outcome of the previous results, so we are expecting another tough encounter,” Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi said.
“It took us 80 minutes in the previous match to break the match down, and again we are going for the same encounter, which is always fierce, very aggressive [with] a lot of aerial battles and a very good team to play against.”
“[They are] coached by one of the best coaches in the country so we are expecting a very competitive match which we have to be prepared for and never take things for granted. We all know it was not the easiest match that we played this weekend so we know what to expect.
“If you get the outcomes that are very good in those first five matches it’s good for you, but you know that you’re still in the preparatory phase. Knowing the number of matches that we are expected to play within the next two months now it is also very important to periodize our work properly to make sure that we don’t burn out quickly and that we are ready to play until the last match, and that requires a lot when you consider that we are playing two to three matches every week.
“It’s gonna be even more difficult for many teams to cope with that and maybe for us it will be slightly better considering that we’ve been in this for many seasons now with the Champions League and all these other matches that we play per season.”
Gavin Hunt and Manqoba Mngqithi will be boosted by the fact that they’ll have no injuries or suspensions to report in both camps ahead of the Tshwane derby.
Bradley Grobler will look to pick up where he left off in the league, scoring the winning goal against Richards Bay after he failed to score in his last outing for SuperSport against the Brazilians.
Marcelo Allende will be relishing the chance to continue his impressive form for Sundowns after he found the back of the net on two occasions in his first two appearances for the Brazilians.
SuperSport United Form in DStv Premiership:
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Mamelodi Sundowns Form in DStv Premiership:
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