Sundowns, SuperSport to battle for Tshwane supremacy

Mamelodi Sundowns will be determined to start their defence of the Betway Premiership title with a win over SuperSport United at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday.

Kick-off is at 7:30 pm CAT.

CURRENT FORM

Masandawana are coming off a morale-boosting 4-0 victory over Eswatini side Mbabane Swallows in a CAF Champions League second preliminary round first-leg match played in Tshwane on Saturday.

The victory saw Sundowns snap a two-match winless run having registered back-to-back 1-0 defeats to Stellenbosch FC in the MTN8 in what was coach Manqoba Mngqithi's first losses as the club's sole head coach.

SuperSport, meanwhile, have been inactive since they were booted out of the MTN8 on 3 August when they succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to defending champions Orlando Pirates in the quarterfinals in Soweto.

Therefore, SuperSport are winless in their last two matches across all competitions having ended the 2023/24 season with a 1-1 draw with Pirates in a league encounter on 25 May.

TEAM NEWS

Sundowns are expected to be without Mothobi Mvala, Divine Lunga and Kegan Johannes who are on the club's injury list, but the Brazilians have no suspension concerns.

SuperSport, on the other hand, will be without their coach Gavin Hunt who is suspended, while Bradley Grobler and Grant Margeman will be missing due to long-term injuries.

WHAT WAS SAID?

SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt

"I think they (Sundowns) are still [in the race], whoever can finish above them will win the league, if they do, if anybody does," Hunt said.

"They still got the quality, they still got a know-how. People think it’s easy, when you’re winning, you need to keep winning and it’s very difficult to keep winning.

"They have done it for the last seven years. So, you’ve got to commend them. They bought well, they bought players and they always have a fighting chance."

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Manqoba Mngqithi

"We always want to make sure that we excel in the games that we play and unfortunately when we don't win it looks like we have not done enough," Mngqithi said.

"Maybe a game like this will really help in the morale of the team going into the beginning of the championship [Betway Premiership] and for me that is probably the most important.

“Now that the championship has started, we have no choice but to fight to make sure that we keep the team where [It was last season] and I'm very confident that we've got a good enough team to help us to achieve that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lucas Ribeiro Costa, Mamelodi Sundowns: The left-footed attacker grabbed his first two goals of the season in the win over Swallows and will be confident of finding the back of the net in the Tshwane Derby.

Vincent Pule, SuperSport United: The experienced winger marked his official debut for Matsatsantsa with a goal against Pirates last month and he will be keen to inspire his side to a win over Masandawana.