Chiefs and Sundowns to battle it out for the bragging rights

All 16 Betway Premiership teams will be in action this weekend, with Kaizer Chiefs hosting Mamelodi Sundowns at the FNB Stadium on Saturday in one of the mouthwatering clashes of the weekend.

Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi, who has been tasked with rebuilding the Amakhosi, has promised fans a quality spectacle after good starts by both teams in the league.

His counterpart at Downs, Manqoba Mngqithi says although his team has experience in playing big matches, they will not underestimate Chiefs.

Chiefs and Downs will go into Saturday afternoon’s encounter with their confidence high following good wins in their midweek games.

Downs thrashed Marumo Gallants 4-1 at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday, while Chiefs beat AmaZulu 3-1 in Durban on Wednesday.

The Amakhosi fans have packed stadiums wherever their team plays this season and are expected to do so on Saturday. But Downs have expressed confidence that their experience of playing big matches in front of big crowds will stand them in good stead.

“When you’re playing a big match like this in front of more than 68 000 spectators, it calls for a little bit of experience somewhere and maybe that’s where we’ll have an advantage,” says Mngqithi.

“It’s going to be a lovely game, tough Chiefs are doing really well now their rebuilding phase is looking really good, but we trust and believe in our process as well,” says Sundowns Defender Grant Kekana.

Still early in his tenure at Chiefs, Nabi seems to have already had an impact at Chiefs with new signings, Gaston Sirino and Angolan defender, Inacio Miguel, scoring against AmaZulu on Wednesday. And the Tunisian expects Saturday’s match to be a good spectacle for the fans.

“I think it’s very important to start an important match by having a good performance. I do think both teams started well. They are on top, and this is a guarantee I think that it will be a good game for the fans,”

Meanwhile, fans have been urged to arrive early at the stadium for the match that will kick off at three o’clock, as another event is happening at the nearby Nasrec Expo Centre.

“If we don’t arrive early at the stadium, we are going to have a problem again, it compounded on Saturday with Comi Con at Nasrec. There’s another event in the precinct so if we don’t play our part we’ll have issues on Saturday,” says Bertie Grobbelaar from Stadium Management.

Three other premiership matches will be played on Saturday with Sekhukhune United hosting Golden Arrows at the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane.

Rookies, Magesi F.C. will host Royal AM at the old Peter Mokaba stadium while Cape Town City will welcome SuperSport United at the Athlone stadium.