Eric Tinkler challenges Durban City to overcome 'fatigued' Mamelodi Sundowns

While Tinkler's side recently secured their place in the group stages of the CAF Confederation Cup, the Brazilians saw their involvement in the CAF Champions League come to a premature end in the second qualifying round.

City did, however, most recently lose 2-0 to Stellenbosch in the league, after their continental cup progression as Sundowns recorded an unconvincing 1-0 league win over Marumo Gallants.

Tinkler feels that they Sundowns players are showing sign of fatigue and has challenged his side to make the most of the opportunity to collect all three points.

"I think for all of us, it was a surprise that Sundowns didn't qualify. I expected them to qualify because of the quality that they have," Tinkler said in the Sowetan.

"But obviously, it takes a lot of other questions about what the reasons were and like I said, the modern game has changed. The number of competitions that exist and the number of games that players play, it is a lot.

"Somewhere along the lines there will be fatigue and I think it has creeped in at Sundowns because they have been successful for many years."

"We've to go there and collect points," added Tinkler.

"That's always been my mentality and I don't go to play against teams sitting and playing the low block and hope to catch them on the counter, that's not how I play.

“It doesn't matter who it is, Sundowns with the quality they have, yes, fantastic. But we will go there to play our brand of football and compete and to win. So, I've beaten them before and I lost to them before, so I will lose to them again and I will also beat them. I go with that mind-set.”