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Preview: Sundowns v Ajax CT

Cape Town - Ajax Cape Town will be desperate to end a five-match winless streak as they head up to Pretoria to take on Mamelodi Sundowns.

Read: Money is good in SA football

After a strong start to the campaign, the wheels have come off for Ajax in recent weeks. In their last nine matches, the Urban Warriors have conceded 17 goals and scored only nine, winning just one match in the process and have slipped from second to fourth place in the Absa Premiership standings.

Coach Roger De Sa has spoken recently of the small, young and inexperienced squad Ajax have, which is in vast contrast to Sundowns' star-studded and expensively assembled outfit.

De Sa did, however, see midfielders Travis Graham and Bantu Mzwakali returning from injury for the midweek draw with AmaZulu, although Keagan Dolly and Dominic Isaacs remain long-term injury concerns, while Abubbakar Mobara and Nathan Paulse are also currently sidelined.

One player, however, who is making an increasingly important contribution to the team since his return from injury is Franklyn Cale, the one-time Sundowns winger having scored a stunning late equaliser in the 1-1 stalemate with Usuthu.

Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane may be missing a host of players through injury, but he can still field a team packed full of international class players.

Up front, former Ajax winger Khama Billiat, striker Cuthbert Malajila and Liberian forward Anthony Laffor (who bagged a brace in midweek), are all in good form and amongst the goals of late.

The Brazilians go into Saturday's encounter on the back of a 2-1 win away at Maritzburg United on Tuesday, and appear to be a team in the process of picking up some momentum; Downs are on a six-match unbeaten streak which has yielded 11 points and taken them up to third in the table.

Ajax have already gotten the better of their more illustrious opponents this season, having recorded a 1-0 victory in the first-round encounter in Cape Town, thanks to a Graham goal.

The match takes place at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Attridgeville, with kick-off at 18:00 on Saturday, December 20.

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