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Cape Town - Champions Mamelodi Sundowns should pick up all three points when they open the defence of their Absa Premiership title at home to moderate Maritzburg United, suggest our resident experts.
Every PSL round, a Sport24 panel comprising compiler Rob Houwing plus Garrin Lambley, Raymond Silinga, Earl Haupt, Wade Pretorius and Tashreeq Vardien will attempt to hit the right buttons in forecasting a trio of the most attractive games.
We will keep a season-long leaderboard showing who is prospering and which wretched souls are floundering: three points for wholly correct scoreline, one for right result.
Here we go ...
1. Mamelodi Sundowns v Maritzburg United, Friday 20:00, Loftus
This early in a new campaign, fortunes from the previous season have to serve as a pretty strong guideline, so on the basis of ‘Downs bagging the silverware and Maritzburg being no better than lower mid-table, you have to suspect the hosts will get off on a winning note. Mind you, in last season’s corresponding encounter the men from KZN came within a whisker of an upset, an injury time strike from Zimbabwean Khama Billiat sparing many Pretoria blushes in a 2-2 draw ...
Rob’s tip: 1-0
Garrin: 2-1
Raymond: 2-0
Earl: 1-0
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 3-1
2. Free State Stars v Kaizer Chiefs, Saturday 15:00, Charles Mopeli Stadium
As with Sundowns, last season’s runners-up (who had set the pace for so long) could be said to kick off in slightly less than strenuous fashion on paper: the Soweto glamour club travel to Free State Stars, who ended a disappointing 14th in 2013/14. Perhaps an even better omen for the eternally ambitious Chiefs is that they comfortably won 2-0 there last season. Still, the Stars line-up will be out to impress new Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, who wants his charges to be top-half material this time around.
Rob: 0-1
Garrin: 1-2
Raymond: 0-3
Earl: 0-1
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 0-2
3. SuperSport United v Wits, Saturday 20:15, Lucas Moripe Stadium
The Saturday night spectacle seems a promising strength-versus-strength affair as Wits, a praiseworthy third last season, go a bit up the highway to tackle SuperSport. The home side are now some four years on from their halcyon days, when they hogged the title for three years on the trot, and must be restless to revisit those lofty heights once more. But Wits won’t willingly go belly-up and, bearing in mind last season’s goalless outcome in this fixture, our tipsters unsurprisingly lean quite heavily toward a point apiece again.
Rob: 1-1
Garrin: 1-1
Raymond: 0-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 1-2
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
Every PSL round, a Sport24 panel comprising compiler Rob Houwing plus Garrin Lambley, Raymond Silinga, Earl Haupt, Wade Pretorius and Tashreeq Vardien will attempt to hit the right buttons in forecasting a trio of the most attractive games.
We will keep a season-long leaderboard showing who is prospering and which wretched souls are floundering: three points for wholly correct scoreline, one for right result.
Here we go ...
1. Mamelodi Sundowns v Maritzburg United, Friday 20:00, Loftus
This early in a new campaign, fortunes from the previous season have to serve as a pretty strong guideline, so on the basis of ‘Downs bagging the silverware and Maritzburg being no better than lower mid-table, you have to suspect the hosts will get off on a winning note. Mind you, in last season’s corresponding encounter the men from KZN came within a whisker of an upset, an injury time strike from Zimbabwean Khama Billiat sparing many Pretoria blushes in a 2-2 draw ...
Rob’s tip: 1-0
Garrin: 2-1
Raymond: 2-0
Earl: 1-0
Wade: 2-0
Tashreeq: 3-1
2. Free State Stars v Kaizer Chiefs, Saturday 15:00, Charles Mopeli Stadium
As with Sundowns, last season’s runners-up (who had set the pace for so long) could be said to kick off in slightly less than strenuous fashion on paper: the Soweto glamour club travel to Free State Stars, who ended a disappointing 14th in 2013/14. Perhaps an even better omen for the eternally ambitious Chiefs is that they comfortably won 2-0 there last season. Still, the Stars line-up will be out to impress new Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, who wants his charges to be top-half material this time around.
Rob: 0-1
Garrin: 1-2
Raymond: 0-3
Earl: 0-1
Wade: 1-2
Tashreeq: 0-2
3. SuperSport United v Wits, Saturday 20:15, Lucas Moripe Stadium
The Saturday night spectacle seems a promising strength-versus-strength affair as Wits, a praiseworthy third last season, go a bit up the highway to tackle SuperSport. The home side are now some four years on from their halcyon days, when they hogged the title for three years on the trot, and must be restless to revisit those lofty heights once more. But Wits won’t willingly go belly-up and, bearing in mind last season’s goalless outcome in this fixture, our tipsters unsurprisingly lean quite heavily toward a point apiece again.
Rob: 1-1
Garrin: 1-1
Raymond: 0-1
Earl: 1-1
Wade: 1-1
Tashreeq: 1-2
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
