With two matches left to the closure of the sportpesa premier league,four teams are caught in a relegation battle with each of the teams optimistic of survival.

A total of 28 matches have so far been played with Gor Mahia having been declared the Champions.

With no clear or official communication from the FKF/KPL over how many teams to be relegated,the KPL insists only two are to go down.Going by the KPL official communication then a fierce battle for survival will be witnessed over the weekend when four teams chace for any meaningful survival technique.

Nakuru All Stars are rocked at the bottom with a paltry 19 points and will need to win their remaining two matches and pray City Stars and KCB lose their two matches heavily.

All Stars face a rejuvinated Sony Sugar who until the midweek loss to Tusker had not lost in seven matches.The community based club have had a tough season having been incorporated back to the league after they got relegated.they lost several players but still managed to cause upsets beating giants Leopards and holding champions Gor Mahia.One of their star player Bebeto Lwamba Mulondwa has 9 goals and Bonface Akenga has also been impressive.

The other team found in the relegation battle is perrenial candidates Nairobi City Stars formerly World Hope.The team has escaped relegation for the last three seasons winning their last two matches.However last year they joined All Stars in the lower tier but got reinstated by the KPL Governing Council after promoted Shabana and Rangers opted to join a rival FKF PL.
The team boasts of Star players in Liberian Sanna Ebraim and Ugandan Jimmy Bageya who helped the team overcome KCB over last weekend.
They have 24 points with a difference of -13 against KCB’s 25 points and -12.
City Stars face Ushuru FC while KCB will lock horns with on form Ulinzi.
A win for the Kawangware boys and a loss for the bankers will be a huge advantage for City Stars.
City stars is one of the few clubs with an academy(Vapour FC) and a sponsor.

On their part,KCB bank has been caught in a tight angle this time needing to beat Ulinzi for any meaningful hope to avoid the chop.the club owned by giant bank KCB was formed in 1993 and joined the Nairobi Provincial league in 1996 before joining the nationwide in 1997 and a year later KPL.their 17 year stay at the top tier is in jeopardy as they face a tricky tier at home to Ulinzi and sum it up with an away trip to Kusumu to face Stima.

The other team found in the relegation cycle is Chemelil,this is the first time the Awasi based side is finding itself in such a situation.having done well in the previous season,the sugar millers has posed poor results this season forcing the management to hire veteran winning coacj Francis Baraza to offer consultancy services with two rounds to go.They have 28 points and can only go down if both City Stars and KCB win all their matches with them losing their remaining two matches.They face an away trip to Thika to face Thika United before a last home match against Mathare United.
Meanwhile in another related news,the Sony Sugar vs Nakuru All Stars match that was slated for today has been pushed a day foward to tomorrow,speaking to Sony Sugar Chairman Paul Orato,the match was pushed to sunday after his Nakuru All Stars counterpart Requested citing committments.”We have agreed by mutual consent to push it to sunday,yes indeed it was to be played today” Orato told soka25east

Austin Oduor

talking African football