Wits hold no fears for Arrows
All eyes will be on Benni.
After the holiday hiatus, normal service is resumed as both domestic competition in South Africa and the English Premier League gets under way this weekend. The MTN8 kicks off the new local season with defending champions Bidvest Wits opening their title defence against Lamontville Golden Arrows, who have the ability to deliver an early upset. “I don’t sense any nerves, all the players are talking about is beating Wits and progressing to the semis, so that’s a positive,” said Arrows coach Clinton Larsen in the build-up to the game.
Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United meet at Soccer City on Saturday night and Mamelodi Sundowns are home to Maritzburg United on Sunday.
Arguably the biggest focus will come on Saturday afternoon when Benni McCarthy debuts as the new Cape Town City coach with a game at home to Polokwane City.
All manner of betting is available on all MTN8 fixtures as is the case with the Premier League, which this year has an unusual Friday night start as Arsene Wenger begins his 21st year in charge of the Gunners.
Arsenal are not among the early season favourites as they host 2016 champions Leicester City. Instead it is likely the race will come down to one of Chelsea or Manchester City, with Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur also having title-winning credentials but perhaps missing an element or two.
Pundit Stan Collymore, the former England striker, wrote: “The countdown’s started to the big kick-off – and it’s shaping up to be the most competitive rollercoaster ride in the history of the Premier League. We’ve been saying that every season for the last few years and with the multi-millions spent this year it’s getting even harder to predict who will be the winners and losers next May. No one is going to run away with it but, for me, it’ll be Chelsea who are crowned champions again.”
Alvaro Morata has come in for Diego Costa and Chelsea have also signed defender Antonio Rudiger from Roma to beef up an already strong squad. Man City have purchased a whole new backline – full-backs Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy and goalkeeper Ederson – and it will be interesting to see how long that takes to settle.
Jose Mourinho has added Romelu Lukaku in place of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Nemanja Matic in recent days but Liverpool and Tottenham have hardly signed a cheque, which might come back to haunt them.
All this weekend’s Premier League games are available in Soccer 6, Soccer 10 and Soccer 13 pools.