After a promising start to the season, will Kaizer Chiefs have an advantage in the Betway Premiership title race, with the rival pair of Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates in the CAF Champions League group stage?
The last time Chiefs won their first two league games of the season was in 2019/20, where they were title favourites midway through, at the top of the table, until a COVID-19 enforced break threw away their momentum.
Amakhosi were a different team in the bio-bubble, until they eventually lost it in the last 30 minutes of the campaign to Sundowns.
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After back-to-back victories over Marumo Gallants and AmaZulu FC - followed by a loss to The Brazilians under controversial circumstances - the general feeling is that they will be a completely different proposition under new head coach Nasreddine Nabi and will be competitive in the title race.
Already on a three-point deficit after Masandawana and Bucs won all their first three matches, should all the big teams go neck-and-neck until around November this year, Chiefs could be seen to be having an advantage of freshness, as the two rivals will be involved in CAF Champions League action.
However, based on the statistics, there is no proof clubs who are not playing in CAF tournaments have an advantage in the league title race over those who are not.
The last time Sundowns and Pirates were in the group stage of the competition, in the 2018/19 campaign, they finished first and second respectively in the Premiership standings, while the Glamour Boys finished ninth.
On the other hand, a motivated Amakhosi without CAF commitments seemed to have gained an upper hand over the Tshwane giants a season later, as they could win consecutive matches, while The Brazilians could not manage games from behind, until the bio-bubble changed the normal momentum of a league race.
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Although the Chloorkop side have become a points machine in the last few years, they showed some frailties in the MTN8 and even against Chiefs, where they were, arguably, dominated in the second stanza and had to be rescued by massive saves from reigning Footballer of the Season, Ronwen Williams.