Kaizer Chiefs will face Chippa United in their penultimate league game of what has been an extended Absa Premiership campaign, which was halted in March as a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic.
With the finish line to the 2019-20 season in sight, Chiefs will be looking for three valuable points when they host Chippa on Wednesday evening at Orlando Stadium. There are two games remaining in the season and it is all to play for as Chiefs host the Chilli Boys in what will be a spicy encounter as Spring rolls in.
The sides met
back in November last year at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
It was Chiefs who thanks to a Dumsani Zuma brace ended a four- game winless run
against Chippa, It ended with a comfortable 2-0 win for the Amakhosi. A similar
result on Wednesday evening is what Chiefs require as they seek to hold firm at
the top of the standings, with Mamelodi Sundowns only trailing Amakhosi on goal
difference with both teams having 53 points.
The head to
head record between Chiefs and Chippa is very tight when we look at the
previous 13 league clashes. Chiefs shade Chippa with six wins to five, with two
other games ending in goalless draws. Chiefs did dominate this fixture in the
early seasons when they first met in 2012-13 and 2014-15. Amakhosi won the
first four league clashes between the sides, with Chippa then dominating for a
while winning five of eight clashes, drawing two and losing just once in those
games.
The Glamour
Boys turned the tide on Chippa’s dominance with their 2-0 win over Chippa in
November. It also saw Chiefs keep their sixth clean sheet in 13 league games
against them. It also meant that of Chiefs’ six league wins over Chippa they
have won four of these games by two goal margins. The most common score-line in
games between the sides is 2-0, with five games ending with that score-line –
Chiefs recording four wins and Chippa one.
As Chippa won
a league clash between the sides 3-1 at home on 3rd December 2016,
that is also the only league game between Chiefs and Chippa which has seen both
teams find the back of the net. While the rivalry between the sides may still
be in its infancy, matches between the sides have been full of intrigue, drama
and the stakes have always been high when they have met them with relegation
and the title on the line in certain instances.
Chiefs have effectively been at the top of the table since the 10th August 2019 and have led the standing for 389 days and over 55 Weeks. The aim for Amakhosi is to remain there for five more days and see out what has been a long and challenging campaign. Kick off for the game is at 18h00 CAT (19:00 EAT)
