Cape Town City head coach Eric Tinkler feels the international break came at the wrong time for his team as they look to gain momentum against Golden Arrows at the Mpumalanga Stadium on Sunday.
Kick-off is at 5.45pm CAT (SA, GMT+2)
The Citizens recovered from a disappointing start in 2023-24 to surge up the table after a run of five straight wins took them within two points of the DStv Premiership summit in third place.
A 2-0 victory over Royal AM on 10 November extended their unbeaten run in the league to six matches since suffering four defeats on the spin in August and September.
Tinkler has a clean bill of health for the trip to Hammarsdale, but remains wary of the threat posed by Arrows, who knocked City out of the Carling Knockout in the opening round just over a month ago.
"It will not be an easy game, we are fortunate with the fact that we have everybody available... so everybody is raring to go," he said.
"The mood, the ambiance, everything at the club has been exceptionally good over the past two weeks, but obviously we would have preferred not to have the break in order to achieve our objective."
🚨 UPCOMING GAME🚨
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🗓️ Sun 26 Nov 2023
🏟️ Mpumalanga Stadium
⏰ 17:45
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Abafana Bes'thende emerged as early challengers to Mamelodi Sundowns after winning six of their opening nine top-flight encounters, with their only loss coming at the hands of the Brazilians.
But Mabhuti Khenyeza's side are winless in November after losing to local rivals Royal AM (1-0) and AmaZulu (3-1) in the league, while also being dumped out of the Carling Knockout by Usuthu in the quarterfinals.
Arrows come into this weekend's clash two points adrift of the Mother City outfit in fourth position and Khenyeza insists they cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that were made against Amaqhawe.
"One mistake changed the game. We were supposed to punish them before they even equalised. We lost the game through our own mistakes, to be honest.
"Had we scored a second goal to make it 2-0, I don't think AmaZulu would have had that belief to say, 'we can come back'... we should have just buried the game."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Golden Arrows
Ryan Moon: The 27-year-old striker has led the line regularly for Arrows this season, but he's found goals hard to come by. Moon extended his barren spell in front of goal to six games against AmaZulu, although he did provide the assist for Gladwin Shitolo's 18th-minute opener with a flick-on at the near post from Bradley Cross's long throw-in.
Cape Town City
Jaedin Rhodes: The 20-year-old attacking midfielder is becoming increasingly influential in the team after earning the trust of Tinkler this season. Rhodes opened his account for the campaign with a match-winning brace against Richards Bay on 29 October and provided the assist for Thabiso Kutumela's opener against Chippa United before getting on the scoresheet again in the win over Royal AM, making it three goals in his last three games.