The six-week break has given Kaizer Chiefs further opportunity to work on the positives that saw them end 2016 on a high‚ and iron out the kinks that plagued them preceding that period‚ says Amakhosi captain Itumeleng Khune.

With all the uncertainty that plagued Chiefs at the start of 2016-17‚ the unconvincing performances and cup failures‚ just a point separates fourth-placed Amakhosi from Premier League leaders SuperSport United.

They finished with two strong wins against Polokwane City (3-2) at home and then Golden Arrows (2-0) away‚ suggesting perhaps finally Amakhosi were clicking under embattled coach Steve Komphela.

Khune believes with time to work on deficiencies in the Christmas and Africa Cup of Nations break‚ and the arrival of an unknown quantity striker in Gustavo Paez in the transfer window‚ Chiefs can challenge for the title from a decent league position.

He admitted a win against Free State Stars in their first match back at FNB Stadium on Tuesday would go a long way restoring their late-2016 impetus.

“We want to start the season the way we ended 2016. So it’s very vital that every match we’re going to play‚ we play to win‚” Khune said on Thursday.

“Because in the first round we really struggled to win matches we should have. We kept on drawing.

“We could have been much further with points‚ but we dropped points unnecessarily.

“But now‚ I think with the six weeks’ break we’ve had a chance to work on a lot of things. Things like finishing – something we were lacking.

“But our strikers came back with a right frame of mind‚ and you can see they’re eager and hungry to score more goals.

“Because if you look at the scoring charts‚ none of our strikers are there. Our top scorers are a defender‚ Lorenzo Gordinho‚ and [winger] George Lebese.

“So we really need to pull up our socks going into the second half of the season.”

Paez has arrived with a questionable record. Only his first few matches will give an indication of whether the Venezuelan is more than the sum of the parts of a journeyman career that has spanned Slovenia and the Spanish and Italian lower leagues.

“I’m very impressed. Everyone is impressed with him. He’s very mobile‚ he’s very hungry in front of goal‚” Khune said.

“He’s been scoring a lot of goals for us in friendly matches‚ hence the club rewarded him with a contract.

“It’s a new dimension into the team. He will really help us in scoring. But he will also push other strikers into scoring.

“So I think Gustavo up-front‚ Lewis Macha‚ Bernard Parker – who was doing well before we closed as well – will really help us with all the combinations of our strikers.”