AmaZulu FC will be targeting another win over Lamontville Golden Arrows in Sunday’s DStv Premiership match at the Mpumalanga Stadium in Hammarsdale.
Kick-off is at 3:30 pm CAT.
Usuthu are undefeated in their last four matches having thrashed their Kwa-Zulu-Natal rivals Arrows 3-0 in the Carling Knockout last weekend and it remains their last competitive game.
AmaZulu are currently placed in 11th place on the DStv Premiership standings – two points behind seventh-placed Kaizer Chiefs and another victory over Arrows could see the KZN giants climb into the top eight.
“We are still far from the level I think we can reach, but I’m still seeing areas of improvement,” AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin said.
“And seeing probably some need for the squad we have to reinforce the team. We are improving, but what you saw against Arrows is not going to be a reality for the upcoming games.
“It’s only for one day and we need to keep on working and believe we can improve more. This is the ambition I have as a coach.”
Meanwhile, Arrows are winless in their last two competitive matches after succumbing to a 1-0 loss to Royal AM in a league encounter on Tuesday and it was their second defeat in a row.
Abafana Bes’thende are still placed third on the DStv Premiership standings – three points behind second-placed SuperSport United and a win over AmaZulu will get their league title ambitions back on track.
“We have been winning, it’s part of football. We have to take it, it’s okay. They scored three in the first half and in the second half, it was a different story,” Arrows head coach Mabhuti Khenyeza said.
“But I think we have learnt from our mistakes in the first half and we tried to rectify them at half-time. We changed our formation and we got a couple of opportunities
“And if we had scored one or two, we should have been back to the game. But we take it like we did with the wins when we were winning.”
Both teams have no suspension concerns coming into this KwaZulu-Natal Derby clash with AmaZulu set to welcome Ethan Brooks back from a one-match suspension.
This will be AmaZulu’s first match since the passing of one of their key strikers, Bonginkosi Ntuli while Arrows star Thabani Zuke has been working on his match fitness.
Head-to-Head
LAST 10 LEAGUE RESULTS
Season Result Scorers
2018/19 AmaZulu 2-0 Arrows Ntuli 2 (1 pen)
2018/19 Arrows 1-1 AmaZulu Lunga; Ouro-Akoriko
2019/20 Arrows 1-1 AmaZulu Sibiya (pen); Ntuli (pen)
2019/20 AmaZulu 1-2 Arrows Sithebe; Mutizwa 2 (1 pen)
2020/21 AmaZulu 0-2 Arrows Sibiya (pen), Ndwandwe
2020/21 Arrows 0-1 AmaZulu Memela
2021/22 Arrows 2-2 AmaZulu Mutizwa (pen), Mathiane; Mlambo, Ntuli (pen)
2021/22 AmaZulu 1-2 Arrows Maduna; Ndwandwe, Sibiya (pen)
2022/23 AmaZulu 0-1 Arrows Mmodi
2022/23 Arrows 1-0 AmaZulu Ndlovu
LEAGUE RECORD (since 2001/02)
Home
P W D L GF GA
Arrows 16 7 3 6 22 18
AmaZulu 16 6 3 7 14 14
Away
P W D L GF GA
Arrows 16 7 3 6 14 14
AmaZulu 16 6 3 7 18 22
Total
P W D L GF GA
Arrows 32 14 6 12 36 32
AmaZulu 32 12 6 14 32 36
