GHPL: 5 talking points ahead of matchday 3

In the second week of Ghana Premier League action, matches were a treat and more is expected in the third week.

New deals have been struck and new potential golden boot winners have entered the fray but there is room for change as it is still early days yet.

Here are Joy Sports’ five talking points ahead of matchday three.

New TV rights deal completed

It has been a long wait by all stakeholders of the Ghana Premier League for the reveal of the new TV rights holder of the league and MTN FA Cup but that has finally come to an end.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) announced that StarTimes emerged winners of the bidding process on Thursday and will possess exclusive television rights to the competitions.

The deal is worth $5.25m dollars over a period of five years. The GFA also smartly shut down the allegations levelled by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), indicating their lack of timeliness and high demands.

Kurt Okraku and his administration have delivered on their third week promise and fans can now watch some matches on television.

StarTimes are expected to show a maximum of three matches a week but will only show one match this week which will be the Hearts vs Dwarfs match at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Will Hearts finally get their campaign running?

Edward Nii Odoom was tasked with stabilizing the sinking ship of Hearts of Oak after the shocking exit of Kim Grant and it is fair to say that it has not been a bed of roses so far.

The Phobians were outclassed and battered by Medeama in Tarkwa on matchday 2, leaving their fans in distraught.

The forward line has also failed to find the net in two games but their upcoming clash with Ebusua Dwarfs leaves the Accra based giants with a chance to finally break the duck.

The Mysterious Dwarfs have exposed their huge deficiencies at the back, conceding 5 goals in just two matches. It will be interesting to see how the 20 time Ghana Premier League winners fare in this fixture.

The top scorers’ battle

Aduana Stars striker Yahaya Mohammed set the pace on opening day with his brilliant hat-trick in his side’s 4-0 hammering of Inter Allies and although he failed to score on matchday 2, he sits on top with Medeama’s hitman Prince Opoku Agyemang.

The new “Prince of goals” opened his account against Ebusua Dwarfs and grabbed a brace against an uninspiring Hearts of Oak side.

Aduana Stars will host a struggling King Faisal side and Medeama will make an away trip to Dansoman to face Liberty Professionals.

All eyes will be on these two players to increase their goal scoring numbers.

Time for Legon Cities to grab a win

Legon Cities are currently leading the pack on the marketing side of football and managed to attract a number of supporters with the performance of Shatta Wale in their game against Asante Kotoko.

Sitting 12^th on the table with just one point, Goran Barjaktarevic and his men are faced with a must win game against high flying Dreams FC.

It will be interesting to see how the Royals attempt to shut out their opponents at the Theatre of Dreams.

Is the home dominance trend changing?

Before the start of this season, only 12.92% (108) of 836 Ghana Premier League games from 2014/15 were away wins whilst an astonishing 61.48% (514) were home wins. In this campaign however, 7 (38.89%) away wins have been recorded in 18 games so far.

In comparison, the latter indicates a huge improvement on the former. The away teams have shown a lot of confidence, leading to better results.