Ajax Cape Town will look to break a six-match winless streak in the Absa Premiership when they host Bloemfontein Celtic on Sunday. The match takes place at Cape Town Stadium, kick-off at 15h30.
The Urban Warriors went down 1-0 away to Orlando Pirates in midweek, a match from which they arguably deserved at least a draw. The result means they have not won a league match since September, picking up just two points from the last 18 that have been up for grabs.
Ajax have slipped down to 10th on the league standings and find themselves a full 13 points off the pace of leaders SuperSport United – certainly not a position coach Maarten Stekelenburg and his charges will be satisfied with considering they came so close to winning the title just last season.
Celtic have also struggled for form somewhat this season and find themselves just a point ahead of Ajax, though the Bloemfontein team is at least placed in the top half of the table in seventh place. In their last outing they were held to a goalless draw at home by Bidvest Wits.
Ajax will be looking to return to form at home: in their last three games at Cape Town they have drawn 1-1 with Jomo Cosmos, lost 2-0 to Bidvest Wits and drawn 0-0 with SuperSport United. Their last home win (and their last win in the league overall) was 3-1 over Free State Stars on September 23.
Ajax and Celtic have crossed swords 18 times in the top flight league since the Cape club’s formation in 1999/00. The UrbanWarriors have a slight statistical edge, with seven wins to Phunya Sele Sele’s six and 26 goals scored compared to 20 conceded. Ajax’s record in the Mother City is in their favour with six wins and just one loss from nine matches.
Last season the Cape team took four points off Celtic, winning 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Thulani Serero and Brett Evans before claiming a 0-0 draw in the return game in Bloemfontein in the second half of the campaign.
Go to: Ajax seek return to form
