Last week, in this Malawi Super League, saw a bag of mixed results. Fortune favored the brave, and some decent sides may feel they left some points out on the field after 90 minutes.
With little separation at the top, it seems the men are starting to separate themselves from the boys. The biggest determining factor of the TNM Super League is the ability to be decisive.
Scrappy draws are more like two points lost than a point gained. Besides Civil Service United and Nyasa Big Bullets match, there are one or two other interesting clashes. Let’s get down to it.
Leaders Blue Eagles hold a two-point lead over defending champions Nyasa Big Bullets ahead of the home game against Mighty Tigers.
On the other hand, Bullets will, for the fifth time this season, play away from home at Civo Stadium against Civil Service United.
Should Bullets claim all three points in Lilongwe, they will temporarily dislodge Eagles who will play on Sunday.
Both teams claimed victories last time out, with Eagles beating Sable Farming 2-1 at Mpira Village whilst Bullets hammered Rumphi United 4-1 at Kamuzu Stadium a day later.
The People’s Team have had more years of joy over Civil Service and the last meeting between the two sides ended 2-1 in favor of Kalisto Pasuwa’s side.
In 2019, Bullets scored in the dying minutes of the match to claim a 1-0 victory over the government sponsored side.
With a new team on the block, Pasuwa’s men are hot favorites going into this match. This is also Bullets’ best start to the new season with six wins from eight matches.
At this stage last season, Bullets were 6th with three wins, a defeat and more draws.
On the other hand, Civil Service is a side you cannot underrate. They have a new hit-man in Christopher Kumwembe who is scoring goals for the Lilongwe based side and on a good day, they can surprise the defending champions.
Whatever the case, people are assured of watching a good game between the two teams.
At Silver Stadium, Silver Strikers will look forward to continue their winning streak when they host Ekwendeni Hammers.
Last season, the two teams shared three points each, with the former losing 1-0 to Mzuzu before winning 2-0 at home in the reverse fixture.
The Bankers have had a mixed start to the season, winning three games, losing once and three draws.
They are playing a side which is also struggling to find results. Last week, they drew 0-0 with Moyale Barracks, with their head coach defending their recent drop in form to “inexperienced side” which he is building from last season.
This will also likely to be an entertaining match between two sides which did well last season.
At Kasungu Stadium, TN Stars will play host to Tigers at Kasungu Stadium. The Kasungu based side registered their first win of the season last week after series of defeats which saw them dropping into the bottom three.
But they are playing a side which is enjoying good form at the moment and they would want to start with a good result in their Central Region outing.
On Sunday, Mighty Wanderers will strive to return to winning ways when they host Dedza Dynamos at Kamuzu Stadium after registering back to back defeats in the league.
The Nomads lost 2-1 to Kamuzu Barracks at home before traveling to Lilongwe where they lost to Silver Strikers with the same margin.
With the news of Mukuru as their sponsors, the Nomads will do whatever it takes to welcome their new sponsors with a win.
But Dedza Dynamos, who lost 2-1 to TN Stars last week, will also come very hard on their opponents in order to bounce back from the last defeat.
This won’t be the first time for the rookies to play at the Artifical turf, having lost to Tigers a fortnight ago at Mpira Stadium.
Wanderers are favorites going into this match.
At Nankhakha, early pacesetters Blue Eagles will be vying for all points when they entertain Tigers in what will be one of the games to watch in Week 8.
Eliya Kananji’s side is cruising and will do everything in their power to claim all points considering the fact that Bullets will play earlier than them.
But Tigers won’t be a walkover for them. Trevor Kajawa’s side will be a hard nut to crack and they are good travellers especially when playing against top sides.
At Mzuzu, Karonga United will be the visiting side when they play Moyale Barracks whilst Rumphi United will shift their attention to a home game against Sable Farming, with Kamuzu Barracks hosting Ekwendeni Hammers in the final match of the day.
Aside from the title race, other areas of interest to look out for are the fight to finish the first round in the top 8 to secure a place in the next edition of Airtel Top 8 Cup which will kick off after the end of the Super League season.
Eagles are top with 22 points from Eight games, seconded by Bullets with 20 points from the same number of games.
The bottom three teams are Rumphi United, Sable Farming and TN Stars.
