Club soccer back in spotlight

It’s back to club soccer this weekend after the international break and the Telkom Knockout kicks off at home while Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool seek to remain unbeaten in England.

Bidvest Wits are the holders of the Telkom Knockout trophy and also top of the PSL table this season, and would be excused if they focus on one rather than the other. But coach Gavin Hunt insists the club are going after the knockout trophy again, even if it might distract from their efforts to keep their nose ahead in the title race.

They begin the defence of their trophy away against struggling Free State Stars in Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon - the fourth year in a row the two clubs are meeting in the competition in an unprecedented quirk of the first-round draw.

“We cannot afford to put one over the other, we are a club who have to try and compete for everything. We might change one or two players, there are one or two who need to be dropped,” he said after Wits missed out on beating champions Mamelodi Sundowns away in their last game.

TAB soccer punters will be wary of the potential of upsets this weekend, despite the fact that the draw has handed most of the big guns a home fixture.

Kaizer Chiefs, whose trophy drought is now into a fourth season, start at home against Black Leopards on Sunday and Orlando Pirates welcome Chippa United the night before.

Sundowns also have a home game against Bloemfontein Celtic on Saturday. All can be considered bankers for home wins in TAB soccer pools, although it must be remembered Celtic have pulled off upsets in Atteridgeville in recent years.

After 10 days of national team football, the club game is back on centre stage this weekend with Jose Mourinho stepping straight back into the media headlights as he takes his desperate Manchester United team to his old hunting ground at Stamford Bridge.

It is the early game on Saturday and whatever the outcome will surely dominate the news headlines for the rest of the weekend.

Chelsea defend an unbeaten record in their ninth game of the season. So do champions Manchester City in what should be a routine assignment at home to Burnley and Liverpool, who are away at winless Huddersfield Town.

Chelsea and City look like banker bets in TAB pools, but maybe Mourinho, despite carrying the world on his shoulders, can engineer a surprise in London?