Preview: Promotion chasing Naivas face Mwatate as Gusii host Kajiado

© Coastal Heroes

NSL Preview: Promotion chasing Naivas face Mwatate as Gusii host Kajiado

Festus Chuma 10:45 - 08.04.2023

A win will be needed for Kajiado and Vihiga if they want to start climbing the table.

Gusii FC will host Kajiado at the Gusii Stadium in Kisii in the highlight fixture of Saturday's National Super League (NSL) matches.

Another fixture will see Coastal Heroes welcome Vihiga United at the Mbaraki Sports Club in what is also expected to be an entertaining game.

Fifth-placed Naivas FC faces struggling Mwatate United at Camp Toyoyo in the other game of the day.

Gisii are currently eighth on the NSL log with 25 points after playing 16 matches, while Kajiado are placed 14th with seven points from the same number of matches.

Both teams will be looking for maximum points as they failed to win their last matches.

"We were just unlucky against Kisumu All Stars because we missed so many scoring opportunities. In football, anything is possible and we are not underrating Kajiado even as we target maximum points," said Gusii coach Kassim Junior.

Kajiado will be aiming to take the spoils as a means to escape from the relegation mire but they face a side that also wants to climb to the top three bracket on the log. This match promises goals and action if you look at recent games from these teams.

Gusii fell 1-0 to Kisumu All-Stars, while Kajiado were thrashed 3-0 by table-leaders Shabana FC.

The hosts will be confident, but they will be cautious, knowing Kajiado can gain revenge. In the season's first leg, Gusii beat Kajiado 2-0 in a match that was played at Ildamat Stadium.

At Camp Toyoyo, promotion-chasing Naivas will hope their positive form continues against an inconsistent Mwatate United.

The hosts are one of the promotion contenders. Coupled with their impressive draw against Mara Sugar last week, they might prove too strong for their opponents. 

But Mwatate United enter this game with a bullish attitude after holding their archrivals Coastal Heroes to a 2-2 draw last week, so the hosts do not have a cut-and-dried match here.

In Mombasa, a revived Coastal Heroes will face a stern test when they square it up with Vihiga United.

Vihiga are in the red zone and will be looking to use their hosts as a ladder to safety. In contrast, Heroes will want to assert dominance against the visitors as they push their promotion dream further by gaining a key win.

The visitors have yet to live up to the billings based on their antecedents as a former FKF Premier League side. Their present spot in the league standings with 11 points from 16 games still ranks them as relegation candidates.