Kaizer Chiefs will have a big say in who finishes second in the PSL this season when they head to Pretoria.
Chiefs go up against third-placed SuperSport United, who are on 48 points.
The Royal Bafokeng Stadium will host this titanic battle on Saturday at 3pm.
The Pretoria side are two behind Chiefs’ fiercest rivals Orlando Pirates in the race for the second and final place in next season’s Champions League.
Amakhosi have fallen out of the race as they start this tie with 44 points. That means a win for the Glamour Boys will do Pirates a massive favour in this most intriguing run-in to the PSL.
Chiefs have won only two of their last five outings and have actually lost two of their last three to fall behind Pirates and SuperSport in the race for second. Don’t forget Chiefs also lost to the Buccanneers in the Nedbank Cup semi-final as their season dwindles away.
CHIEFS ARE UNDERDOGS – BETTING ODDS
SuperSport have drawn three of their last five to allow Pirates to sneak ahead.
Home team striker Bradley Grobler remains in the race for the Golden Boot with just two games to play.
Mamelodi Sundowns striker Peter Shalulile is one goal ahead of second-placed Grobler and Monnapule Saleng of Orlando Pirates, who are both tied on 10 goals.
Grobler didn’t have many positives to say about the poor return of the leading trio of scorers this season.
“For once, it’s quite nice to have quite a few guys up there challenging, but at the same time, I think we get criticised every year that the numbers are low,” Grobler told the media on Tuesday during the open media day.
“I have to be honest with you, 15 or 16 is better, but when you are talking about 10 goals in a season, it’s not good enough, but I’m not criticising us as strikers… it’s a hard league to score goals.
“I’ve played outside the country and I’ve played here and people don’t see that it is a very defensive league and it is hard to score.
“But in saying that, those numbers are not enough. We have to be better and going into the last couple of games and all these guys sitting on 10 or nine goals, there is no one who wants to go into these last two games and doesn’t want to win the top goal-scorer. It’s what every striker wants every season.”
Chiefs look likely to miss out on third spot to SuperSport regardless of the result on Saturday.
That leaves Arthur Zwane’s men out of Africa.
“If it (finishing third to qualify for the Confed Cup) didn’t happen, it doesn’t mean it was a bad season altogether. I think with the new squad and also giving a lot of youngsters (opportunities), coming from our own development, it’s been a good season,” Zwane told the media.