Kaizer Chiefs’ firm start to the new season has brought them yet another reason to smile despite losing grip of their winning run on Wednesday.
Chiefs have three wins and a draw from their opening four games, placing them on 10 points out of the maximum of 12 that have been available to play for.
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This has pushed them to the comforts of second place on the standings.
Of significance is that they haven’t conceded in all those four games, giving Brandon Petersen reason to bounce his fist on his chest in pride.
Not conceding carries weight for Nasreddine Nabi considering that there was no clean sheet for the opening nine league games last season against Marumo Gallants, AmaZulu FC, Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United, Magesi FC, Richards Bay FC, Royal AM, Polokwane City, and TS Galaxy.
That was nine league games in a row of conceding, which drops to eight with Royal AM having been expunged from the league.
The importance of clean sheets is that games will not be lost and with every goal scored, it counts towards a win, laying the foundation towards a title challenge.
While it is normal that Chiefs will ultimately concede along the way this season, keeping it tight at the back gives them the advantage, especially with their frontline options wider this season with the arrival of Etiosa Ighodaro and Flavio Silva.
So, with four games of the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season done, which equates to about one seventh of the league campaign done, the Soweto giants are yet to concede.
Throughout the PSL era years stretching back to August 1996, they have never kept a clean sheet in the opening four games of a new league campaign like they have done so far this term.
Their longest, best start to a new season in the league with clean sheets was in 2003/04.
They beat Sundowns 2-0 on the opening day with the late John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu and Patrick Mayo on target.
Then came the goalless draw with Wits University and the 5-0 thumping of Black Leopards with Moshoeu on a hat-trick.
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The 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows then ended that run after Thiyekile ‘Ace’ Gulwa finally breached the Chiefs defence.
Fast-forward to the start of the 2025/26 season, they have Arrows up next again away in Durban on Saturday (17:30).
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
