With Swallows and SuperSport United faltering, and Orlando Pirates emerging as a dark horse in the title race, it appears that the DStv Premiership is Mamelodi Sundowns’ to lose.
The Brazilians are still the team to beat this season. The defending champions have not played a league match in two weeks, but remain comfortably at the top of the standings.
The last league match Downs played was their 2-0 win over Baroka on February 17. Despite this, they have a three-point lead over second-placed United, with 36 points and three games in hand.
READ: Pirates succumb to SuperSport pressure to share the spoils
Swallows, who were the leading chasers not so long ago, have fallen off the pace thanks to five consecutive draws. They are now fourth with 30 points – six points adrift of the leaders.
The Dube Birds lost their first league match on Tuesday when they lost 2-1 to TS Galaxy.
Despite the loss, coach Brandon Truter felt that his team dominated and deserved something out of the game.
“Two moments of madness in five minutes and we got punished. But I am proud of the boys because we played very well against an opponent that plays man-to-man marking and makes it difficult to play,” Truter said.
“We dominated and we managed everything they threw at us until the 85th minute. We have to get this result behind us in the next game.”
Meanwhile, Pirates have moved up the standings following their 1-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic. Bucs are now in third position with 32 points.
However, coach Josef Zinnbauer has downplayed their chances of challenging Sundowns for the title.
“We have more games than the other. Maybe we can speak in the coming weeks. Our focus is on the next game and not the title. We are not overthinking or looking at ourselves at contenders,” he said.
READ: CAF-induced mess leaves PSL with fixture chaos
“I hope we can improve our performance. Our game [against Celtic] was not the best, but we got the result. We are now in position three and that is good for us.”
Wednesday fixtures
Chippa United vs Cape Town City, Sisa Dukashe Stadium (3pm)
Golden Arrows vs Baroka, Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium (5pm)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
