Premier league standings tricky

s the tenth round of the Mainland premiership unfolds this weekend, four top placed teams are separated by just three points.

Holders and leaders Simba survived a scare mid this week when Azam failed to capitalize on their floppy performance after drawing with Ruvu Shooting before their own fans at the Chamazi Stadium.

Too clustered is the leader board as Simba who have 19 points have a slim cushion over second placed Azam by just a point, two over third placed Young Africans and three over Coastal Union who have 16 points.

The bunched standings bring the league into high tension as a slip up by one team would ignite a strong repercussion on the standings table.

This weekend’s matches, particularly those lined up tomorrow, would throw the league wide open among the top five positions.

Yanga and Azam have an opportunity to change the trend of the league should either side win tomorrow’s matches in Arusha and Dar es Salaam, respectively.

Yanga meet stubborn JKT Oljoro who will be at their Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium in Arusha while Simba host unbeaten Azam at the National Stadium in Dar.

Yanga might leapfrog into the league summit should they beat Oljoro and hope for Simba to float at the hands of the ice-cream makers.

A win for Simba would temporarily halt Yanga and Azam in their quest to lead the premiership standings now coming closer to the half way mark.

However, with a match in hand Azam still have huge opportunity to explore and push the rest of the teams o the sidelines on condition they post victories and not drop points through draws or losses.

Unpredictable Azam have a unique habit of displaying poor performance against unheralded sides.

Fourth-placed Coastal Union, who will be visiting Azam Complex for their away match against troubled Ruvu JKT, are in pole position to give headache to the three top placed teams in the standings depending on their performance.

The Tanga top flight side has lost only one match at the hands of Ruvu Shooting after brilliant display to treat their home fans fairly.

Coastal have won four and drew as many matches with the only blemish when they lost to the Coast Region’s Shooting.

The clustered points in the standings are likely to tilt other middle table positioned teams at the end of the tenth round matches.