Winners & Losers – PSL MatchDay 7

There was drama galore in the PSL matchday 7 this weekend with Sundowns returning to the summit of the table following their win and Pirates’ defeat on Sunday. The defending champions cruised to a 3-0 win over Sehukhune on Saturday, then sat back and watched Stellenbosch ensure they remained at the top of the table. Elsewhere, Kaizer Chiefs dropped two points after giving up a 2-0 lead vs Royal AM, while Cape Town City lost a thriller against Golden Arrows (3-2). Winners & Losers is a Monday stats column that looks at all the numbers from the weekend action.

Winners

Sundowns

Having lost the Carling Cup final to Magesi and drawn in the CAF Champions League to seemingly extend a run of dire form (it was just two games without a win mind you), Sundowns could easily have allowed their heads to drop and tripped over a tricky Sekhukhune fixture. Instead, they responded to the “slump” with a performance that shows why they will not be displaced at the top that easily. With Pirates dropping points against Stellies, it was important to take advantage and end Q1 on a high.

1 – Only once before (8 wins from 8 last season) have Sundowns won more games in Q1 (first 8 games) of a PSL season.

Manqoba Mngithi

The Carling Cup defeat must have hurt Manqoba Mngqithi as much as anything, given how heavily favoured Sundowns were for that game. The 0-0 that followed in the Champions League turned doubters into skeptics, and another negative result here would have turned skeptics into cynics. The 3-0 win over Sekhukhune was welcome for a man seemingly under pressure, but 24 hours later it looks even more valuable. It means Downs have extended their unbeaten run over Sekhukhune to seven, while inflicting their heaviest-ever top-flight defeat. 

“I felt last season we were very strong in ball possession, very strong defensively, but I don’t think we were really hurting opponents that much behind their defence and we were also not using width a lot.”

He promised goals, and he is delivering them:

18 – Sundowns have scored 18 goals from eight games this season, their joint-best goalscoring start at this stage of a campaign (18 also in 1999/00 and 2013/14).

Golden Arrows

That’s back-to-back wins for Abafana Besthende, who are now back in the Top 8 positions. Their game against Cape Town City was a great advert for the PSL. From 2-0 up to 2-2, the hosts had to rally late to secure the win. It’s becoming a trend.

6 – Arrows have scored more goals in their last two games (6), more than in the first six games of the season (4).

Chippa United

Considering Magesi stunned Sundowns in the Carling Cup final last week, not many would have expected the hosts to start the brighter of the two sides. It took Chippa seven minutes to open the scoring (it’s been three years since they scored sooner in a game), and Magesi were still catching their breadth when the same player bagged a brace.

3 – Sinoxolo Kwayiba is just the third Chippa United player to score a first-half brace in the top-flight, after Rhulani Manzini (August 2016) & Eva Nga (December 2021).

Arthur Zwane & Kanu Vilakazi

It hasn’t been the easiest of starts, facing the teams that finished 2nd and 3rd last season in their first two games. But the club’s joint coaches are starting to find their feet.

2 – AmaZulu have now won back-to-back league games for the first time since September last year – a run of 29 games without successive wins under Franco.

Losers

Kaizer Chiefs

The obvious place to focus when analysing Chiefs’ woes is the defence. No team has conceded more goals (4 other teams have conceded 10 like them), and they are one of only two sides yet to grab a clean sheet. But you have to watch Chiefs to appreciate that one of their biggest issues is that the magic further up the pitch may spar, but often fails to ignite. This was the first time in PSL history that Kaizer Chiefs have failed to win a league game despite leading b y a 2+ margin at half-time (winning from all 66 sich situations prior). They should have be 4-0 up.

24 – No team has created more big chances than Chiefs this season (24), while no team has missed more big chances than them (16).

SuperSport United

A third consecutive game without scoring. Two goals from nine games is SuperSport United’s worst goalscoring start to a PSL season and the joint-worst of any team in PSL history. It’s the first time Matsatsantsa have less than seven goals at this stage of a campaign.

7 – SuperSport have failed to score in seven games this season, more than any other side. They failed to score in seven games throughout the whole of last season.

Pirates and their comeback problems

Under Jose Riveiro, Orlando Pirates have won just one of the 10 league games where they were trailing at half-time (W1 D1 L8).