Orlando Pirates will be looking for a return to winning ways when they host Marumo Gallants at the Orlando stadium on Tuesday.
Pirates have not won any of their last three matches in all competitions and what is putting more pressure on them is that the last time they played in the league, they lost.
The Buccaneers were beaten 1-0 by Stellenbosch FC on December 1, their first league defeat of the season, which has allowed Mamelodi Sundowns to close in and move top of the table.
Pirates go into Tuesday’s match second on the table with 21 points from eight matches, three behind Sundowns, but with a match in hand, and can get close to the Brazilians with victory against Gallants.
Form guide
The Sea Robbers had put together a seven-match winning run in the league, a new club record, before Stellenbosch put brakes on their surge up the table and since then, they have drawn 0-0 with Al Ahly and 1-1 away to Stade d’Abidjan, both in the CAF Champions League.
It is for those reasons that Bucs fans expect three points on Tuesday but their opponents have also been improving, having overcome their early season woes.
Gallants have won two of their last three games with the six points pushing them to 12th on the table on 10 points and would love to add more misery on Pirates.
Head-to-head
However, history does not favour Dan “Dance’ Malesela’s men as they are yet to beat Pirates in regulation time in all their seven meetings.
Pirates completed a double over Gallants last season, coming after Gallants had secured a win on post-match penalties in the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals in March 2022, after the match had ended 1-1 in regulation time.
Of importance also is that Gallants have only managed two goals in seven matches past Pirates which puts them at a disadvantage heading into Tuesday’s clash.
Team news
There have been no fresh injury concerns for coach Jose Riveiro’s team while Malesela is sweating over the absence of suspended midfielder Mpambaniso Monde who will miss the match due to an accumulation of yellow cards.
What have they said?
“Dance” admits the unavailability of Monde is a blow to his team, who will likely do more defending than attacking, at Orlando Stadium.
“I’m going to sound like a prophet if I can do that, you know, let’s see how we prepare and who we prepare for Pirates and what kind of personnel we need,” said Malesela.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have Mpambaniso now he’s got his fourth yellow. So, we need to look at what we get in terms of personnel. They play a bit quicker.
“So, we need to see what we can do against Pirates and have a line-up that we’ll be able to match and be able to win. So, let’s see.”
Time & where to watch?
The match will kick off at 15.00 at the Orlando Stadium and will be live on SuperSport TV.
Predicted Pirates X1
Chaince, Van Rooyen, Sibisi, Sesane, Hotto, Mbatha, Makhaula, Dlamini, Mofokeng, Nkota, M
