Ghana Premier League: “Kotoko will capitalise on Hearts of Oak’s weakness” – Karim Zito

Head coach of Asante Kotoko Abdul Karim Zito has spoken highly about their fixture against sworn rivals, Hearts of Oak in the Ghana Premier League on Sunday.

The record premier league holders are guests of the 2000 CAF Champions League winners at the Accra Sports Stadium in a week nine derby – a clash that is always characterized by wild debate.

Ahead of the tough clash, coach Karim Zito has admitted that, the fixture against the record FA Cup holders will not come easy.

Kotoko and Hearts of Oak fixtures are always tough

“Hearts of Oak and Kotoko, everybody knows how the game is, it’s one of the best and one of the biggest games between the two,” Karim Zito told Kotoko Media.

“So everybody wants to win just as we are going there with the mindset of winning so it’s like you plan against the best side of your opponent and then capitalize on their weaker side and so this is what we are doing in short to meet Hearts of Oak.”

Karim Zito has admitted that Hearts of Oak coach, Mas Ud Didi Dramani has a lot of technical qualities that must not be underestimated by any manager who faces his side.

Coach Didi Dramani’s tactics must not be underrated

“Didi is a fantastic coach [and] I’ve worked with him before when I was at Kotoko, I was the manager of the youth side and he was at the top with the premier side and then the telepathy between us worked a lot.

“Because when you look at the result we chalked, we won the premier league twice and we won the U-20 twice so it tells you the way we were at that time.”

Asante Kotoko currently have 11 points from five games after crushing Karela United by 4-2 at the Baba Yara Stadium since their return from a horrible CAF Confederation Cup campaign where they suffered a 6-1 aggregate loss to Wydad Athletic Club over two legs. They have three outstanding matches to clear following their involvement in the CAF Confederation Cup.