In-form Cape Town City will be chasing a hat-trick of Premiership wins when they tackle AmaZulu at the King Zwelithini Stadium today (kick-off 8.15pm).
The Citizens cruised to a 3-0 win in the corresponding fixture at the Cape Town Stadium in October.
“We’re reading nothing into that result,” said City coach Benni McCarthy.
“AmaZulu are a different proposition on their home field where, bar the defeat to Kaizer Chiefs, they’ve gone unbeaten and won the majority of their matches, so we go there expecting a tough night but aiming for a positive outcome.”
AmaZulu will be doing their utmost to stop that from happening and will be buoyed by ending Mamelodi Sundowns’ 28-game unbeaten League run last week with a 2-0 victory.
And no doubt Usuthu will cast their minds back to last year when they hosted and beat City 2-0 in the Telkom Knockout Cup. But the Capetonians, who are on a six-game unbeaten run in the league, have taken note of Sundowns’ loss.
“We watched a video of the game and saw possibilities for us,” said City goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh.
“Sundowns had a lot of opportunities to score and we’ve taken notes and that’s all I’m saying other than to mention that it’s going to be a tough game for us, one we’ve prepared well for and we’ve been playing well and kept three clean sheets which is a sign of good things to come.”
Leeuwenburg’s heroics in the previous league clash with Chiefs saved the day as City went on to claim a 1-0 victory.
“It was nice to make the saves I did and for the boys to put one for coach Benni’s first triumph over Chiefs.
“My defenders did a fine job as well and all I need to do is keep them in position and alert to the dangers approaching. I’m not the oldest player in the team but I try and play my part to bring on the youngsters in our last line and I’m stoked with the way they’ve risen to the challenges.”
City will be without their top goal scorer Siphelele Mthembu, but his absence paves the way for Kermit Erasmus to show he’s still got what it takes to be a lethal finisher.
“Kermit will start upfront for us and I expect him to make a big impact,” said McCarthy.