NEWS: Cavin Johnson hopeful that Kaizer Chiefs can finish the 2023/24 DStv Premiership season ahead of rivals Orlando Pirates

Chiefs trail defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns by 19 points and are currently at the tail of the race for African football next season as a second or third-place finish would qualify them for the Caf Champions League and Caf Confederation Cup respectively.

However, Johnson remains a prisoner of hope and has a lot of optimism in the final lap of the season.

“We have eight games left and the objective is to push to win all the available games. And if we push for that, you don’t know what could happen to the teams above you, they can also lose games,” Johnson said, whose side faces competition from Orlando Pirates, Cape Town City, SuperSport United, Sekhukhune United, and Stellenbosch for an appearance in African inter-club competitions.

“Our objective stays the same: win as many games as you can because the league is a marathon and only after 30 games you can be able to tell where we are,” he added.

Meanwhile, Amakhosi’s trophy drought is its 10th season and they have not had the best days in the office in the last three outings, dropping a total of eight points.

After the 1-0 setback against Stellies, Johnson is not shy to admit that the chips are down in Naturena and he needs to find a way to dust up his team before traveling to Chippa United this Saturday.

“The players are just not happy with themselves now because of the performances…. that’s the unhappy camp I am talking about.

“They don’t want to lose and that makes it very difficult because when you do lose, you lose a lot of energy and we just have to make sure that we get them back to where they were when the game started,” Johnson explained.

The Glamour Boys will have a chance to redeem themselves against the Chilli Boys who also have problems of their own, having lost both of their last two games and are in danger of being dragged into the relegation squabble.

Kick-off is at 15:00 at the Buffalo City Stadium.