Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns' perfect and near-perfect starts to the Betway Premiership season may not give Kaizer Chiefs time to recover in the title race, according to statistical projections.
Chiefs head coach Nasreddine Nabi appeared to be throwing in the towel after a narrow loss to SuperSport United, their second in the league this season, after lashing out at the media for creating false expectations and hyping the team to compete for titles.
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Amakhosi have collected only seven points from their first five matches, with a winning rate of only 40% after they won only two games.
As a result, the Glamour Boys average 1,4 points per game and projections using the same rate for at least until half way through the campaign, after 15 matches, puts them approximately on 21 points.
In comparison, the Buccaneers are already on 21 points after seven matches while Sundowns are on 18 points after seven games.
Jose Riveiro's charges are chasing a record of 11 wins in a row since the start of the season in the PSL era set by The Brazilians last season.
Should Pirates win a further four games in a row (after winning seven consecutively), they would be on 33 points, while Chiefs after 11 games would be around 15 to 16 points, based on the statistical projections using their first five matches.
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Given that Nabi is in his first season at Amakhosi, for him to win a number of games in a row could indeed be seen as unrealistic, as former Glamour Boys coach Stuart Baxter only won first eight league matches in a row - a league record which was only broken by Sundowns last season, in his third campaign, in the 2014/15.
It would take a massive improvement from Chiefs, together with the hope of the Buccaneers and Masandawana dropping points, for them to wrestle back into the title race.