On Tuesday, the StarTimes Uganda Premier League returns from a 34-day break as SC Villa make a trip to face Wakiso Giants on the same day leaders Vipers will hope to stretch their lead at the top with a home tie against URA.
Like TV series, the first round ended with a lot to think about as well as look forward to.
Here, Ismael Kiyonga takes a look at things to look out when the UPL returns on Tuesday.
Is it a two-horse title race?
Only one-point separates leaders Vipers (34 pts) and second placed NEC (33 pts) but Express in third place nine points behind while KCCA and URA are ten points adrift of the Venoms.
KCCA were undone by the Fufa Disciplinary Panel in deducting the points they had achieved in the win over Mbarara City and their title hopes literally swept off.
However, there is still a lot of points to play for and expect more twists and turns just like last season when Villa, from nowhere got to the top and won the title.
However, from the look of things, it promises to be a two horse race between Vipers and NEC given the other closest rivals, URA are inconsistent while Express ambitions could be derailed by the off field issues.
The relegation battle
The point difference between 10th placed Police and the side occupying the last slot in the relegation zone, Wakiso Giants is only six points.
This implies that the Cops, Mbarara City, UPDF and Lugazi who are just above the redzone still have as much work to do as the Purple Sharks, Soltilo Bright Stars and Mbale Heroes who occupy the bottom three positions.
The race to stay up promises to be even more exciting than the title race and could go to the wire just like last season.
Can Villa, BUL and Kitara redeem their seasons?
If you are a club that lacks ambitions? Villa, Bul and Kitara would be proud of their positions on the log but that is a bare minimum for them.
The reigning and record champions SC Villa were expected to put up a fight to defend their title but the first-round performances didn’t point to the direction.
With 14 points behind leaders and in 8th position, the Jogoos have all to do in the second round to try and join the race to defend the title they won the final day at the expense of not only Vipers but Bul and Kitara who like Villa struggled for results in the first round.
After genuinely challenging for the crown last season, many expected both Bul and Kitara to return with the same energy given their transfer business but both have been disappointing given their last season’s standards.
Can the trio redeem their campaign and force themselves into the title talk? We wait to see.
Can the first-round flops stand up and be counted?
At the start of the season, there were players pundits and fans expected to take over the headlines for the good but have badly done the opposite.
Kenneth Kimera at Vipers, Ramzey Kawooya who has returned to Express, Yunus Sentamu, Derrick Nsibambi and partner Anaku Sadat at KCCA, Fred Amaku at Kitara and Isaac Wagoina at BUL among others.
By their known standards, they didn’t show up as expected with some like Nsibambi and Anaku missing matches regularly due to injuries while others like Kimera have even failed to get into starting XI.
Shall we see them return with rediscovered form? There are still 15 league matches to prove.
The post Four things to look out for as the Uganda Premier League returns appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
