Akpeyi – we don’t want to disgrace ourselves

Daniel Akpeyi insists that Kaizer Chiefs “cannot be relegated” in spite of a start to the season that has seen Amakhosi win just one of their first nine matches in the DStv Premiership.

READ MORE: Make no mistake, Kaizer Chiefs could be relegated

Chiefs are just a point above the relegation zone and head into Wednesday’s game with AmaZulu with more injury problems. Khama Billiat is out for two months with a broken leg, the club has confirmed, while Leonardo Castro will miss the game in Durban with an abdominal strain.

This puts further pressure on a Chiefs side that have scored just seven times in the league all season, with Castro contributing two of those and Billiat one, while none of Chiefs’ other forwards have managed a single strike between them.

Amakhosi are currently 14^th in the table and have six more league games in a busy January, ending with a Soweto derby against Orlando Pirates, by which time it should be clearer just how much relegation danger they are in.

“It is normal for the supporters and the country and every person who loves Chiefs to be panicking about the situation,” said Akpeyi on Tuesday.

“It looks like things are not coming right, but we are a big team and brand and don’t want to disgrace ourselves. This team cannot be relegated. We know from the response of the players, we are ready to take the step into the next game. Relegation is not something we are panicking about at the moment.”

The injuries to Billiat and Castro make it even more likely that Samir Nurkovic will start for Chiefs today, even if he is not 100 percent fit, having played his first 30 minutes of the season in the 2-0 loss to Maritzburg United on Saturday.

Amakhosi head coach Gavin Hunt, who admitted Billiat’s loss was a “huge blow” and was clearly upset at the challenge on him by Travis Graham in the Maritzburg game (“I don’t think he got a yellow card”), added that Chiefs had yet to make a call on Nurkovic.

“We will have to see, we haven’t made a decision yet, but we need everybody now,” said the Chiefs coach.

“I have seen enough that makes we believe we have been better than our results. But that doesn’t always work. We need to get results.”

AmaZulu, however, should prove tricky opposition on home soil, unbeaten in two games under Benni McCarthy, with a victory over Chippa United as well as last weekend’s draw at Bloemfontein Celtic.

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