BY GILBERT WANDERA

Gor Mahia players celebrate during their KPL match against Thika United on Wednesday. [PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/STANDARD]

Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Tusker may have fallen out of the title chase but they will still be determined to continue winning when they play KCB at City Stadium in the only league fixture on Saturday.

Tusker fell out of the race on Wednesday after being held to a barren draw by hard-fighting Mathare United and can only hope for a respectable finish at the end of the season.

To do this, the brewers must bounce back to winning ways, which has eluded them in their recent fixtures.

Saturday’s match brings face to face the league’s top scorers Jacob Keli of KCB and Jesse Were of Tusker. Keli caught up  with the Tusker man when he scored a double in a 3-2 win over Sony Sugar on Wednesday, sending his tally to 14 goals same as Were.

While Keli has been consistently scoring in most matches, the same cannot be said of Were who last scored three weeks ago. The KCB striker is most likely to overtake his rival if he continues to hunger for goals as he is doing.

Furthermore, KCB are for the first time in their history looking to finish among the top five and will likely give  this tie their best shot.

Even as Tusker and KCB will be chasing a good finish in the season, a more fierce battle will be going on at the bottom of the standings with teams in danger fighting to get off the hook.

The first relegation battle takes place at Bukhungu Stadium tomorrow where hosts Western Stima want maximum points from visiting Ulinzi Stars.

With four matches to go, Stima cannot afford to drop any more point and should take advantage of Ulinzi’s poor run to win.

Stima have been disappointing at home where they are yet to win in over one month. Their biggest headache has been scoring and coach Francis Barasa must find a way to inspire his strikers to get goals against Ulinzi.

Nairobi City Stars take on Bandari at Nyayo tomorrow with both teams targeting a top eight finish.

City Stars will be hoping to recover from an unexpected 2-1 loss to bottom placed Karuturi Sports while Bandari want to continue with their winning ways after stopping Kakamega Homeboyz 2-1 on Wednesday.

On Monday, Mathare play Muhoroni Youth and Homeboyz face Thika United.