As the matches are coming thick and fast in the DStv Premiership and Motsepe Foundation Championship, the fight against relegation and the race for promotion keeps interesting.
Going into Wednesday's fixtures in the topflight, Maritzburg United remained at the bottom of the log with 25 points, with Chippa United just above them in 15th place on 26 points.
Marumo Gallants have been just above Chippa in 14th place and with 28 points, while TS Galaxy, Richards Bay FC and AmaZulu have not been too far off.
In some of the eagerly awaited fixtures tonight, Maritzburg will be facing Marumo at the Harry Gwala Stadium in a relegation battle while Richards Bay are up against Chippa in another.
There is also a clash for Galaxy who are visitors to Sekhukhune United at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, while AmaZulu are home to champions Mamelodi Sundowns at the Princess Magogo Stadium.
Golden Arrows are at the DHL Cape Town Stadium to face Cape Town City.
Former Black Leopards coach Abel Makhubele takes a look at the PSL's relegation/promotion battle.
The Good
"I will start by talking about second tier football with regards to the race for promotion and that's some type of football that is very unpredictable. You wouldn't think that a team that is vying for promotion would lose at this stage of the season but Cape Town Spurs lost to Venda Football Academy. Polokwane City, as a team that wants automatic promotion, lost to Uthongathi. Casric Stars with their draw (against Pretoria Callies). Between the three teams, anyone can still get promoted automatically because they have been very inconsistent," said Makhubele.
The Bad
Maritzburg United know it all about the relegation battle, having been involved a few times before, as well as Chippa United are used to it. The team that is in trouble for me down there is Marumo Gallants. They are not experienced in fighting against relegation and they have so many games that they are involved in, including the CAF Confederation Cup fixtures. We don't know if the relegation battle is going to take its toll on the players at Marumo because the players are also thinking about their progress in the Confederation Cup. The more they focus there could make them lose focus in the league. I am scared for Marumo. With Maritzburg playing against Marumo in their next game, I think they stand a good chance of winning at home. Also, they know how to get themselves out of those situations, as well as Chippa who previously won the play-offs. Between Chippa and Maritzburg, if Marumo gets away, Chippa could be in serious trouble because they have two away games remaining," he added.
The Ugly
"Of the two teams that will be playing against a side that finishes 15th in the topflight, I'm scared for them because they have been inconsistent. Somehow, the topflight team will stand a very good chance of keeping their status. I am saying this because of the inconsistency from the teams competing in the other league," he said.
They are quite competitive
"For topflight teams, despite their struggles at the bottom of the log, they show so much commitment in how they play and they don't lose easily. It's usually lapses in concentration maybe in the second half of the match and things like that but they are quite competitive," concluded Makhubele.
Who Is Going Up And Who Is Going Down?
