Uganda Premier League
Express FC vs SC Villa
Betway Mutessa II Stadium
Saturday, 20-11-2021 @3pm
Gone are the days when a contest between Express FC and SC Villa was a title decider of sorts regardless the timing of the meeting.
The two sides will once again clash on Saturday at Wankulukuku hoping to continue their surge up the standings.
Express start the day in 9th with seven points from five games.
After a disastrous opening two games that saw Wasswa Bbosa’s side lose to Arua Hill SC and UPDF FC, the StarTimes Uganda Premier League defending champions looked to slowly be picking up before the international break set in.
They defeated BUL FC 1-0 and also just about edged Police FC 2-1 either side of 2-2 draw against Vipers SC.
It is not the ideal start to the campaign that the Red Eagles would have hoped for but one they will take especially after opening with two straight losses.
For Villa, it has been an indifferent start to the season.
After missing the opening three matches due to licensing issues, they finally took to the pitch on match-day four, defeating Police 1-0.
However, they were brought back to reality as they lost 3-1 at home to Wakiso Giants a couple of weeks ago.
After two games, the Jogoos sit 14th on the log with just three points to show out of a possible six.
Their performance in the first half against Wakiso can only be described as woeful as they were literally on the ropes taking a banging.
After such a display, the International break could not have come any quicker for Petros Koukouras’ new-look side.
Against Express, they come face-to-face with a familiar foe and one they would love to get one better of especially after failing to score against Bbosa’s side last season.
Express welcome back the duo of winger Godfrey Lwesibawa and captain Enock Walusimbi. Lwesibawa is yet to feature this campaign as he has been nursing an injury sustained against Al Merriekh in the CAF Champions League. For Walusimbi, he has missed the last couple of games with a knee issue. Left-back Arthur Kiggundu is still suspended and hence unavailable.
SC Villa continue to be without longterm absentees Charles Baale, Isma Mugulusi and Abdallah Ssekandi. Ronald Ssekiganda has recovered from injury and may feature on Saturday. Iddi Wahid, Salim Abdallah and Umar Lutalo have been passed fit for the game despite being in and out of training this week.
This will be the 23rd meeting between the two sides since January 2011. In the previous 22 meetings, Villa has won 10, Express seven with the other five ending in draws. Villa come into this game having won only one of their last six visits to Wankulukuku (D3 L2). Express took four points of Villa last season including three in a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture. No team has scored more than once in this fixture in the last five meetings.
