Chiefs facing potential striker conundrum

Kaizer Chiefs are sweating over the fitness of attackers Ranga Chivaviro and Ashley Du Preez ahead of Sunday's DStv Premiership opening clash against Chippa United.

Chiefs are set to get their season underway against Morgan Mammila's Chilli Boys at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Ahead of the encounter, the Soweto giants are faced with somewhat of a dilemma up front with striker Chivaviro and Du Preez in a race against time to be match-fit.

READ | Khune, Dolly to remain Chiefs captains

Chivaviro did not feature in either of Molefi Ntseki's two pre-season matches against Young Africans and Township Rollers, while Du Preez also missed out on the Yanga match before making an appearance as a substitute against Rollers.

"Ranga has been kept training as an individual for a specific reason because if you look at his background from Marumo, they played too many matches, so we needed to protect him and we need to manage him so that when the season starts he is good shape," Ntseki explained.

With 17 goals under his belt for Gallants last season, Chivaviro is statistically Amakhosi's best bet for goals, alongside Ashley Du Preez who scored nine last season. But both attackers are a doubt, with Du Preez having only recently returned from an injury.

Further complicating matters is the absence of Pule Mmodi. The former Lamontville Golden Arrows attacker will be not part of the Chiefs side that will take on Chippa due to a bereavement, KickOff understands.

Pule was not part of Kaizer Chiefs squad that trained on Wednesday. Additionally, Ntseki revealed that his side had once again been rocked by injuries as of late, although all the players excluding Mmodi were involved in Chiefs' first-team training in mid-week.

"We have a few of them that have been out due to injuries. The obvious one was Dillan Solomons getting injured against Township Rollers. [George] Matlou has been out, Keagan Dolly has been out, and Ash [Ashley Du Preez] has been out for some time," Ntseki added.

"All the players that were out are doing well in terms of recovering from these niggling injuries. We will see by the end of the week what medical report we have from our doctors."

For solutions, Chiefs could turn to Caleb Bimenyimana who scored seven goals last season and is available for selection after his move to Wydad collapsed, as are Christian Saile and Wandile Duba.

Kick-off is at 15:00.

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