Orlando Pirates v Mamelodi Sundowns Betting Preview by OptaJabu

Sundowns stuttering title push will be tested once again this weekend when the defending champions and league leaders travel to Orlando Pirates on Sunday afternoon. Orlando Stadium is possibly the toughest stadium to play in the country – with or without fans, so Manqoba Mngqithi and co. will have to dig as deep as they can. By the time they kickoff on Sunday, they could find themselves in 2nd place, knocked off the perch for the first time since the end of November.

1 – Only AmaZulu (25) have won more points than Orlando Pirates at home this season (23).

Pirates are currently unbeaten in 15 home games in the league, since losing to Chiefs in February last year – their last home league defeat. If you count all competitions, it’s been 23 home matches without a loss (W15 D8, since the Chiefs defeat) – the longest unbeaten home run across all competitions for the club in the PSL era.

34 – Pirates are unbeaten in 34 games all competitions when you consider matches only played at Orlando Stadium (Won 21 Drew 13).

The Buccaneers are just 11 days away from completing 1000 days without losing at Orlando Stadium in the league, and could reach that landmark on 11 May. However, there are two home matches in which they must avoid defeat between now and the 1000-day mark – and the Sundowns game is the first of those.

12 – Sundowns have beaten Pirates 12 times in their own home ground in the PSL era, two times more than the nearest best side (Wits, Supersport and Chiefs on 6).

If the recent Nedbank Cup fixture is anything to go by, there should be some goals in this one. The two teams exchanged Over 4.5 goals between them in that tie, although the majority of those were Brazilian (4). Yet, Downs have found the net once in 390 minutes since then, which has allowed the title race to open up a little.

Suggested Bet: Under 2.5

Value Bet: Draw