Match Preview:- St George Vs Diredawa Kenema

St George will have its 1st week EPL postponed match tomorrow at 5፡00pm. It was not played because of preparation for and games of CHAN Africa Cup. The Horsemen will be playing against Diredawa Kenema.

St George Vs Diredawa Kenema 2016/17 season meetings!

These two teams had their 1st round 2016/17 EPL season clash om Thursday, January 05, 2017. This match was on EPL's 9th week at Addis Ababa stadium at 5፡30pm. This match was won 3-0 by St George with absolute domination by Adane Girma's 30th min, Salhadin Seid's 67th min and Abdulkareem Nikima's 83rd min goals.

The 2nd round match between them in 2016/17 EPL season was played on Saturday, April 20, 2017 at Diredawa stadium at 4:00pm. The Horsemen domination continued and they won 5 to 3. Mehari Mena at the 17th, Adane Girma at the 33rd, Salhadin Seid at 45+1 & 49th, Prince Severniho at the 80th minutes scored to let St George lead by 5-0. But Diredawa Kenema scored 3 goals in the remaining 10 minutes to finish with 5-3. 

These season's numbers of these teams!

St George had 11 matches in the current season to win 5, draw 5 and lose 1. Diredawa Kenema on the other hand, had same 11 matches to win 1, draw 6 and lose 4.Based on this, the Horsemen are 2nd on the Premier League table collecting 20 pts and Diredawa Kenema is 15th with 9 pts.

Let's review Diredawa Kenema's away record as they are playing this match away!

Diredawa Kenema had 5 away matches so far in this season, not winning any, losing 3 and drawing 2. They lost against Mekelakeya by 1-0, Hawassa Kenema by 1-0 and Mekelle Kenema by 2-0. The matches they drew were against Woldia with 0-0 anf Wolayita Dicha with the 1-1.

It has been 2months and 21 days since Diredawa Kenema won a match in this EPL season. The last time they won was Sunday, November 12, 2017 at Diredawa stadium against Jimma Abba Jifar by 1-0. Diredawa Kenema in all away matches scored 1 goal and conceded 5. Diredawa Kenema had 6 EPL matches at home ground. Of these 6 matches they had in front of their fans, they won 1, drew 4 ans lost 1. They won only Jimma Abba Jifar by 1-0.

And the only game they lost in front of their fans was against Ethiopia Coffee by 2-0. The 4 matches they drew were against Dedebit with 0-0, Adama Kenema 0-0, Fasil Kenema with 1-1 and Sidama Bunna with 1-1. Diredawa Kenema in all these 6 matches scored 3 goals and conceded 3.

St George in all the 11 matches, scored 14 goals and conceded 4. Diredawa Kenema on the other hand, in 11 matches scored 4 goals and conceded 9. This makes average of 1.27 goals per game scored by St George and 0.36 by Diredawa Kenema. St George conceded average of 0.36 goals per game while Diredawa Kenema did 0.81.

Diredawa Kenema's Game Plan!

Diredawa Kenema signed in many new players in the summer transfer window. They brought in young players and players with big names investing a fortune. And the young coach with a good name in Ethiopian football, Zelalem Sheferaw, was let go after 7 Premier League matches. Hence, Diredawa Kenema was being led by the vice coach, Semon Abay, in recent matches.   

Coach Semon Abay have been applying 4-4-2 playing style in the past matches. But he was seen to alter this style condensing the midfield in few matches. The team's formation in the beginning of the matches is close to 4-4-2 diamond. We believe it's safe to say Diredawa Kenema have not settled its best 11 selection. The team is trying various players in different games. They seem to be building their team starting 3-4 new players in each game.      

Diredawa Kenema is a team that tries playing possessive football building the ball in their own field. Due to the small number of players they have in their field, they repeatedly make mistakes. Especially the defence makes repeated mistakes when pressed by opponents. Their collection shows instability when the ball starts building up from the goalkeeper and reaches the defenders.

We observed Diredawa Kenema plays narrowing the field once they get in an opponent's half. This is because the 4 players that make up the diamond prefer to play close to each other since they don't have much support from the wing defenders. We observed since their gap with the strikers is visible, they lose the ball and that leading to attack.  

Most St George opponents focus on condensing the midfield and defending deep.and we expect this to happen tomorrow too. And if so, Diredawa Kenema may make a change from 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1/4-5-1.   

Horsemen that will miss this match due to injuries!

Alula Girma, Salhadin Seid, Natnael Zekeke, Abel Anbesse, Mohammed keita and Tadele Mengesha are sidelined since they have not recovered fully.

We will win,

We have full faith in Sanjaw!