Today

Mukura vs APR FC 3:30pm

Saturday

Rayon Sports vs Police FC 3:30pmMarines vs Sunrise FC Kirehe FC vs PepiniereEspoir vs BugeseraGicumbi Fc vs SC Kiyovu

Sunday

Musanze vs Etincelles

Defending champions APR FC take on Mukura Victory Sports today at Huye Stadium hoping to win and avoid losing further ground on table leaders Rayon Sports in the race for the national football league title.

Friday’s game is a must-win for the second-placed APR, who have 35 points from 16 matches against the 11th-placed Mukura with 19 points from 17 matches.

Jimmy Mulisa’s team is one point behind Rayon Sports, but Rayon has two games in hand against Police FC, which will be played on Saturday and Espoir FC which is set for March 1.

"We need to win against Mukura and that means scoring goals but also we need to defend well. We must be fully focused on getting maximum points to avoid slipping further behind Rayon Sports,” Mulisa told Times Sport.

APR had a chance to reclaim top spot from archrivals Rayon Sports but failed after settling for a disappointing barren draw against Southern Province-based Amagaju FC during their match-day 16 fixture on Tuesday. The result left the army side one point behind Rayon.

Mulisa added that, "We were obviously disappointed not to get all three points against Amagaju but we have to put that behind and concentrate on the next game, which will be even tougher because Mukura are hard to be beat at their home ground.”

Meanwhile, Mukura head coach Ivan Mineart will be hoping to remain unbeaten since taking over last month, having won one and drawn one of his first two matches.

The Belgian said, "We have not done as well as we hoped so far this season, but I think we’re getting better having taken four points from a possible six since I have been here.”

"The target is to win the match on Friday, which would give the players more confidence, but we have to be careful because APR are capable of hurting any team,” noted the former Rayon Sports coach.

Rayon Sports, who are into the first qualification round of the CAF Confederation Cup, lead the league table with 36 points, one ahead of APR and two games in hand, while AS Kigali and Police FC are third and fourth with 33 and 31 points respectively.

Pepiniere and Gicumbi FC occupy the bottom two positions with eight and five points respectively after 17 rounds of matches.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw