By the Numbers – Game Week 10

PSL action continued this past weekend with fixtures plenty and spread out across Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All eyes were on Kaizer Chiefs who under interim head coach Calvin Johnson were looking to get their campaign back on track. Elsewhere, Orlando Pirates played two games within 3 days of each other due to their early season CAF qualification commitments and SuperSport United caused more problems for Royal AM.

Lamontville Golden Arrows vs Kaizer Chiefs – 2:1

Interim coach Cavin Johnson began his Kaizer Chiefs spell with a defeat away to high-flying Lamontville Golden Arrows on Saturday afternoon. Knox Mutizwa, scored the brace for Arrows whilst Sifiso Hlanti managed to get a goal back for Amakhosi. This scoreline registered the fifth league defeat for Chiefs this 2023/24 DSTV Premiership campaign.

With the team, a third of the way through their league campaign, the readings across the league table are anything but pretty. 11 points from 10 games broken down as 3 wins, 2 draws, and 5 losses with a goal-scoring record of 9 goals for vs 8 against. Despite the defeat, as in previous games and seasons gone past – Chiefs created chances yet have been unable to put their opportunities away.

Orlando Pirates vs Polokwane City – 1:1

Pirates are fresh off a busy few weeks with games coming thick in fast in the league as they catch up to the rest of the teams as well as playing games in the next round of the Telkom Knockout. Two games in quick succession last week and weekend resulted in Jose Riviero’s men only taking 2 points from both games.

The team have struggled to bring their cup running form into the league and sits 13th on the log albeit with two games in hand on most teams around them. Top scorer Zakhele Lepasa only featured as a substitute in either game allowing coach Riviero to give Evidence Makgopa a run out. On both occasions, he has not quite been able to match the shot-creation rate of Pirates’ other forwards which has led to some frustration from the Bucs faithful.

13 – shots by Pirates vs AmaZulu FC

18 – shots taken by Pirates vs Polokwane City (9 shots)

2 – shots taken by Evidence Makgopa vs AmaZulu FC (none against Polokwane City)

SuperSport United vs Royal AM – 3:1

Gavin Hunt and SuperSport United continued their impressive form to finish the game week third on the log and inflict yet another heavy defeat on Royal AM.

3 – first-time SuperSport United scored three goals this league campaign

3 – the third time Royal AM have conceded three or more goals this league campaign (4:2 vs Orlando Pirates and 3:1 vs Stellenbosch FC).

Other fixtures

Chippa United vs AmaZulu FC – 1:1
TS Galaxy vs Sekhkhune United – 2:0
Richards Bay vs Cape Town City FC – 1:3

Midweek action

The busy schedule continues Wednesday midweek with 2 games – TS Galaxy against SuperSport United and Cape Town Spurs hosting Orlando Pirates.