Premier League leaders Gor are spoiling for a fight with Army side Ulinzi Stars
By Charles.Thuku, February 17, 2023When Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League side Gor Mahia meet Ulinzi Stars at Nyayo National Stadium tomorrow, it shall make an interesting pairing given the close margins between the two in their last eight meetings.
The extremities have mostly been 2-1 victories or barren draws which lends credence to the potential cliff-hanger the match is.
However, Ulinzi takes the bragging rights of having notched the highest advantage when they beat Gor 2-0 on September 19, 2018.
But Ulinzi’s win notwithstanding, Gor, who leads the standings with 33 points, boasts of better statistics as they have recorded three victories as compared to Ulinzi’s two with three matches ending in draws.
The meeting at Nyayo is by and large the weekend’s focus and it shall test Gor’s resolve to remain at the top of the league chart, especially with the potential threat of Nzoia Sugar who they dislodged from the position last weekend after thumping Wazito 4-0 at the same setting.
Nzoia, who have a 31 points collection thus far, will be back at the summit with an advantage of a point assuming they overcome Posta Rangers at Sudi Stadium in Bungoma while Gor falters at the hands of Ulinzi.
While multiple champions Gor are seemingly unstoppable in their quest to reclaim the title, Nzoia have been ruthless at their Bungoma fortress which makes their respective fixtures quite interesting.
Similar destruction
As Gor go hunting against Ulinzi, they will be hoping that their red-hot striker Benson Omala, who leads the league’s score chart with 15 goals, will not have a reverse gear in pursuit of the Golden Boot Award.
Omala struck a brace in Gor’s huge win against Wazito and this is one man Ulinzi should strive to keep in check if the army side wishes to evade similar destruction.
But Gor should also keep in mind that Ulinzi are yearning to climb up from the seventh position and could be a difficult side to handle and especially if they parade experienced players like Masita Masuta, Enos Ochieng, Bernard Ongoma and Staphod Odhiambo.
In the meantime, struggling defending champions Tusker will be hoping to appease their fans when they face much-improved Mathare United in Ruaraka on Saturday.
Despite being placed at the lower reaches of the league, Mathare did put a statement of intent across when they stunned Kariobangi Sharks 2-1 in a midweek match which is why Tusker should tread extremely carefully.
Tusker has disappointed their fans lately in the league with unfavourable results and failure to beat Mathare will further jolt their chances of retaining the gong.
Some of Tusker’s key players whom head coach Robert Matanois expected to summon to help the team do the job are Jackson Macharia , Deogratious Ojok and David Majak.
At Bukhungu Stadium, Kakamega Homeboyz starts life without the trainer John Baraza who was sacked last week over indifferent results and his replacement Patrick Odhiambo would wish to prove that he was indeed the right man for the job by leading Abana Beingo to victory.