Relegation remains a lottery for five PSL teams
WITH the relegation axe looming large for clubs languishing at the foot end of the Premiership, it remains a lottery as to which five teams will suffer the dreadful fate of automatic relegation.
After this weekend’s results, all five of those clubs remain in line for the dreaded drop with 16th place a possibility for all involved.
The club finishing 15th, meanwhile, will play in the three-team promotion/relegation playoffs with the two GladAfrica Championship teams, who finish the season as runners-up and in third place.
Unlike the Premiership, which was won by Mamelodi Sundowns two weeks ago, it is not clear who will win the GladAfrica Championship with two rounds of matches remaining. Any of three teams - Richards Bay, the University of Pretoria and Cape Town All Stars - can lift the title, and there will be automatic promotion for the winner.
With two rounds of Premiership matches left, Baroka FC are in 16h place with 22 points. Next up are Swallows FC on 24, TS Galaxy on 26, and Chippa United and Maritzburg United both on 28.
After the weekend’s results Golden Arrows, Sekhukhune United and Marumo Gallants moved clear of the relegation zone. They are assured of top-flight survival.
Each of the bottom five teams have chalked up at least one win in the last few rounds. The highlight was the Team of Choice beating Sundowns.
Meanwhile, the only team in the bottom five not to taste defeat in the last five rounds are Chippa, who scraped a 2-2 draw against Baroka over this past weekend. They also drew against Cape Town City, Orlando Pirates and SuperSport United, while beating Stellenbosch FC.
Elsewhere, and despite their lowly position, Baroka have played excellent football in patches throughout the season.
Swallows face Chippa and Kaizer Chiefs in their remaining matches and will need at least one win from these two games to drop out of the relegation zone. To date, Swallows with four, have the least wins of the 16 teams this season but have racked up 12 draws in 28 matches.
Based on form, Chippa look the least likely to finish in the bottom two places. Their remaining matches are against Swallows and TS Galaxy; and two points from these matches will take them out of the relegation equation - the same as Maritzburg.
The bad news for Chippa’s upcoming opponents is that they are among the leading teams for returning cleansheets this season. Currently, the cleansheets list reads City on nine, with Pirates, Gallants and Chippa all on eight.
Baroka do not have any option but to win both of their remaining matches and then hope results of their fellow strugglers go in their favour. They face SuperSport and Maritzburg. The form book suggests they may come away with stalemates, and that will not see them clear the bottom two places.
One of Maritzburg’s remaining two matches is a fixture against Pirates, who are still playing in the semi-finals of the Caf Confederation Cup.
It is likely that the PSL will schedule this fixture for midweek.