Orlando Pirates will welcome Venda Football Academy at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday night in the Nedbank Cup last 16 clash.

Pirates defeated All Stars FC in the last 32 to reach the last 16 when midfield maestro Thembinkosi Lorch made his return from injury in a spectacular way by providing an assist and also scoring a goal in that encounter.

Although Pirates face another lower league division side, preparations have been fully efficient as the Buccaneers don't want to fall victims of being eliminated by a lower league side who have nothing to lose ahead of the clash.

Jose Riviero's charges will look to reach the quarterfinals of the competition and potentially go all the way to clinch the Nedbank title in a bid to add another trophy in their trophy cabinet after winning the MTN 8 last year November.

The Buccaneers will however, be without captain Innocent Maela and Tapelo Xoki who are suspended by the PSL after Maela received a red card in the Soweto Derby while Xoki picked up his fourth yellow card for the season in last week's 4-1 victory against Swallows FC.

Meanwhile on Sunday evening Kaizer Chiefs will host Motsepe Foundation Championship side Casric Stars in the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup.

Chiefs who desperately need a silverware head into the encounter with assistant coach Dillon Sheppard clearly stating the importance of getting the victory against Casric Stars.

"We obviously need to end the trophy drought, it has been about 8 years now since we tasted some silverware glory so the Nedbank Cup is our opportunity to get our hands on some silverware, the fans also deserve it," Sheppard said ahead of the Nedbank Cup clash.

Chiefs will be oozing with confidence heading into the encounter after winning their last DSTV Premiership match against Richards Bay last weekend.

Kick-off at the FNB Stadium is set to be at 18:00 while the Pirates match against Venda Football Academy will start at 20:00.

Mamelodi Sundowns know that they are one step away from booking their ticket into the knockout phase of the CAF Champions League when they welcome Al Ahly at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday afternoon in group B of the CAF Champions League encounter.

The last time the two sides met Sundowns had to come back from a narrow 2-1 lead by the Red Devils to salvage a 2-2 draw in Cairo a fortnight ago.

Sundowns will look to the lethal duo of Peter Shaulile and Caisus Mailula who share 29 goals between them in all competitions to impress again and produce the much needed outstanding performance on the day, Mailula will also be boosted by the Bafana Bafana call-up he received earlier on during the week.

Meanwhile Al Ahly will want to keep their knockout phase aspirations alive after having rather a slow start to their Champions League campaign after losing 1-0 to Sudan’s Al Hilal in their opening game.

A week later, the Red Devils were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw at home against Sundowns after conceding a late equaliser courtesy of Thapelo Morena.

However, the African giants picked up their first win in the competition when they hosted Coton Sport last week Saturday, beating the Cameroonian side 3-0 to move to the 3rd spot in group B.

The Egyptian side will be happy to welcome back Ahmed Abdelkader and Khaled Abdelfattah for the Sundowns clash after the pair were suffering from a knee ligament injury that kept them sidelined for the last three weeks.

Kick-off at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium is at 15:00.

The race is still on for Arsenal and Manchester City in the English Premier League as the two sides head into the weekend's clashes with just 5 points separating them.

Arsenal's last minute winner last weekend against Bournemouth gave them some breathing space at the top as they claimed their 20th league win in the current campaign to go to 63 points.

With only 12 matches remaining, Mikel Arteta and his charges will know they cannot afford to drop any points ahead of their encounter with Fulham on Sunday afternoon.

Coming from a 2-2 draw against Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night in the last 16 of the Europa League, the Gunners will have to immediately switch to their main focus in a bid to get the much needed victory against Fulham that will catapult them to 66 points with 11 matches remaining.

On the contrast title chasing Manchester City will not go do without a fight as they are also the defending champions.

City travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday evening for a date with Crystal Palace knowing that a victory will keep them within touching distance of Arsenal.

In a rather shaky season for Pep Guardiola's men, City have struggled in the past when facing Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Last season, Patrick Vieira’s team was one of the few sides to take points off the eventual champions, securing a 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

The upcoming fixture against Crystal Palace poses a challenging test for City who have demonstrated on multiple occasions that they can struggle against sides that come out aggressively. 

Teams such as Brentford, Southampton, and Nottingham Forest have all taken advantage of missed opportunities to create problems for City in recent months and this game could be similarly difficult for them, or it could go the opposite way.

The second and final Test match between the Proteas and West Indies is concluding on Sunday with the Proteas winning the first Test match last week by 87 runs at SuperSport Park.

The Proteas just like in the first Test started the second Test brilliantly scoring 320 all out in their first innings.

Centurion in the first Test Aiden Markram scored 96 runs to help guide the Proteas to a formidable score while Tony de Zorzi also got in on the act by scoring 85 runs in the first innings.

In reply West Indies could only reach 251 runs with Jason Holder being the only batsman to score above 30 runs having a brilliant innings of 81 runs.

Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee and Simon Harmer were the pick of the bowlers for the Proteas with the latter picking up 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively.

Although it seems like the Proteas are in firm control of the second Test, day 5 on Sunday will give a clearer picture of who will reign supreme at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

After taking a well deserved break last weekend, the Six Nations is back this weekend with some big encounters as Italy hosts Wales at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday afternoon.

In a bottom two clash, both sides will look to get the desired victory to get some points behind the name in a very tough campaign for both teams so far.

Meanwhile at Twickenham Stadium, England will welcome France on Saturday night in another mouth-watering match as both sides are currently occupying the 3rd and 4th spot on the table.

A bonus point victory for England will see them leapfrog Scotland into the second spot depending on how the Scottish side play against Ireland on Sunday.

Speaking of Ireland and Scotland, the two will do battle at the Murrayfield Stadium in a top 2 encounter to conclude the weekend's action of the Six Nations.

Whether you will be watching from the Stadium or from the comfort of your home, you cannot miss this weekend's sporting events as they look very intriguing and exciting.