It has been a painful month for the AmaKhosi, who has been in contention for the league title, Nedbank Cup and CAF Confederation Cup until they crashed out of the latter two and have fallen too far behind in the league.
The bubble has burst on what had been a promising campaign, and things could get worse in the coming weeks if they keep losing as they are now seeking to qualify for next season’s CAF Confederation Cup by finishing third in the league.
Durban City are one of their rivals for that place , making Sunday’s clash a vital one.
Their last four games have seen them lose 2-1 to Zamalek in the CAF Confederation Cup and then 2-1 to Stellenbosch in the first round of the Nedbank Cup as they crashed out at the first hurdle in defence of their title.
That was followed by a 3-0 thumping in the Soweto Derby by Orlando Pirates at the end of last month and a 1-0 loss away at Richards Bay three days later.
Chiefs have slipped back to sixth place in the league standings and are now 17 points behind the leaders, albeit with two matches in hand.
Chiefs won 1-0 away over City in Durban in October in their only previous meeting.
In the 2011-22 season they lost the first four games that interim co-coaches Doctor Khumalo and Donald Khuse took charge of after the departure of Vladimir Vermezovic.
It started with an upset defeat at home to Free State Stars in the Nedbank Cup quarter-final and then followed three successive league defeats to Maritzburg United at home, Santos away in Cape Town and SuperSport United at home before beating Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 at home to end the sequences. Chiefs finished that season in fifth spot.
In the 2015-16 campaign, with Steve Komphela taking charge, Chiefs lost four games in the space of 10 days, starting with Pirates beating them 2-0 in the first round of the Nedbank Cup at Soccer City, followed by an away loss to Platinum Stars in the league and then a home defeat to ASEC Abidjan of the Ivory Coast in the first leg of their Champions League second round tie.
The fourth loss was again at Soccer City, this time to strugglers Jomo Cosmos.
In 2021-22 they suffered a home defeat to SuperSport United after which coach Stuart Baxter was fired. Arthur Zwane made an inauspicious start to his second stint as caretaker coach by losing to both Stellenbosch and Lamontville Golden Arrows away and then at home to Cape Town City.
Chiefs gave him the job on permanent basis for the next season but Zwane lost the last four games of the 2022-23 campaign to Moroka Swallows, then Pirates after extra time in the Nedbank Cup semi-final, SuperSport and finally the last game of the campaign at home to Cape Town City.
They finished fifth for a second successive year with Molefi Ntseki taking over from Zwane for the following season.