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2022/23 DStv Premiership
Matchday 17
20-22 January 2023
Matchday 17 in the
DStv Premiership sees Kaizer Chiefs attempt to slow Mamelodi Sundowns' title march, while SuperSport United and Richards Bay battle it out for second place.
Chiefs host Sundowns at the FNB Stadium on Saturday, with Arthur Zwane's side hoping to halt the league leaders' 11-match winning streak.
The Brazilians went 14 points clear of the chasing pack with their 1-0 victory over SuperSport on Monday, while the Glamour Boys (4th) were resoundly beaten 4-0 by AmaZulu last Friday to suffer their second loss on the spin.
Downs head coach Rulani Mokwena attempted to play down suggestions that the title is already in the bag, pointing to two potentially tricky fixtures coming up against Sekhukhune and TS Galaxy in the final week of January.
"Apart from this game, it's SuperSport who beat us in the first round. You've got Sekhukhune that drew with us 1-1. There's TS Galaxy who beat us 1-0 and in between those two matches you've got two big rivals in that space, and so what right do we have of thinking that this thing is done? The mentality is on to the next one, and that is what we focus on," Mokwena said.
Zwane acknowledged that Amakhosi cannot afford to make the same mistakes against Masandawana after being Usuthu took full advantage of the gifts presented to them.
"It doesn't matter who we play, we treat all the games the same; we lost to AmaZulu and if you look at the performance of the boys, it was not bad," he said.
"We just got punished for our mistakes and we will learn from that and go to the next game and see how it goes. But like I said, we take one game at a time; every game we play to win."
The other big game of the weekend pits SuperSport United against Richards Bay at the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium on Sunday.
Matsatsantsa failed to put pressure on Sundowns as a second consecutive loss left them 16 points adrift of the summit in third position. The Natal Rich Boyz (2nd) bounced back from only their third defeat of the season by beating Marumo Gallants 2-0 last Saturday.
Gavin Hunt felt his side posed the greater threat on Monday despite missing key trio Ricardo Goss, Grant Margeman and Thabang Sibanyoni, who were all ineligible to face their parent club.
"I thought we were the better team because we created more chances," Hunt said. "But you got to score against a team like this. We came here with a really patched-up team because a lot of players were out.
"You have to put the ball in the net. Obviously, they got a very lucky goal after the ball bounced right, and it fell to the player, so we were a bit unfortunate."
Also on Sunday, Orlando Pirates will be looking to inflict more woe on struggling Stellenbosch when they clash at the Orlando Stadium.
The Buccaneers (5th) arrested a three-match losing streak with a 3-1 success against Golden Arrows last Saturday as the Maroons (13th) fell 1-0 to Babina Noko, which left them eight games without a win.
In Friday's action, Cape Town City (8th) will be targeting their sixth win of the season when they welcome draw specialists TS Galaxy (11th) to the DHL Stadium, while an in-form Sekhukhune United (7th) go up against Swallows (14th) at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
In the other three encounters taking place on Saturday, Royal AM (10th) face Chippa United (9th) at the Chatsworth Stadium, Golden Arrows (12th) and Maritzburg United (15th) contest another KZN derby at the Princess Magogo Stadium, and AmaZulu (6th) take on rock-bottom Marumo Gallants at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
DStv Premiership fixtures
Friday:
19h30: Sekhukhune United v Swallows
19h30: Cape Town City v TS Galaxy
Saturday:
15h30: Royal AM v Chippa United
15h30: Golden Arrows v Maritzburg United
20h00: AmaZulu v Marumo Gallants
20h00: Kaizer Chiefs v Mamelodi Sundowns
Sunday:
15h30: Orlando Pirates v Stellenbosch
17h30: SuperSport United v Richards Bay
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