Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have a rich history and will always draw a large crowd when pitted against each other, being two of South Africa’s most-supported sides. Yet in recent times, matches have often failed to match expectations, with a certain derby north of Johannesburg providing a lot more of what fans are after: goals.
When Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United meet, fans are almost guaranteed to see the back of the net bulge at least once – only one of the last 15 encounters between the two Pretoria clubs has ended goalless. In comparison, five of the last 15 Soweto Derbies have produced no goals.
And if lots of goals are what you’re after, Lucas Moripe Stadium is the place to be on Saturday evening, judging by the last 10 Tshwane Derbies, where 27 goals have been scored, an average of 2.7 goals a game.
That number is more than double the Soweto Derby, which has produced just 13 goals in the last 10 fixtures across all competitions, a lousy 1.3 goals per game.
Sundowns head into Saturday’s encounter with all the omens in their favour: they have won nine of the last 10 Pretoria derbies, drawing the other which then resulted in a penalty shoot-out loss in the 2016 Telkom Knockout quarter-finals.
Previous meetings:
19/08/17 SuperSport United 0 – 2 Mamelodi Sundowns
19/04/17 SuperSport United 0 – 1 Mamelodi Sundowns
13/04/17 Mamelodi Sundowns 5 – 0 SuperSport United
05/11/16 Mamelodi Sundowns 0 – 0 SuperSport United (Telkom Knockout, SSU won 3-1 on penalties)
28/08/16 Mamelodi Sundowns 3 – 1 SuperSport United (MTN8)
01/03/16 SuperSport United 0 – 2 Mamelodi Sundowns
23/01/16 Mamelodi Sundowns 2 – 0 SuperSport United
07/11/15 Mamelodi Sundowns 3 – 1 SuperSport United (Telkom Knockout)
06/05/15 SuperSport United 1 – 2 Mamelodi Sundowns
03/12/14 Mamelodi Sundowns 3 – 1 SuperSport United
In those 10 fixtures, Masandawana have scored 22 of the 27 goals, with Khama Billiat in particular enjoying scoring against their cross-town rivals: he has five goals in the last 10 games over SuperSport, while Hlompho Kekana, Themba Zwane and Mzikayise Mashaba have scored three.
SuperSport have netted just four goals in the last 10 fixtures against their rivals (with an own goal to boot), and have to go back 15 games to recall their last victory against The Brazilians, a 1-0 league win in March 2013, almost five years ago.
SuperSport currently sit 10th in the standings with one win from their last seven games in all competitions, and will face a tough challenge getting three points against the Absa Premiership leaders, who are unbeaten in five games.
Kick-off is set for 18h00.