Danske Bank Premiership prediction league: can Crusaders continue perfect start?

There are six games due to be played today in the Danske Bank Premiership, it’s hard to believe that we are already onto the third round of matches.

Newly promoted Larne and title hopefuls Crusaders are the early pace setters with two wins from two for both sides, both teams also have the exact same goal difference but Larne are sitting top of the table due to scoring more goals at this early stage. Champions Linfield will, of course, have a game in hand due to not being in action midweek because of their European exploits.

At the bottom of the table, there are three teams still looking for their first points of the season and they are Institute, Carrick and Warrenpoint and while no teams will be getting too concerned at this early stage they will want to address that situation today if possible.

The current Danske Bank Premiership table after the first two rounds of fixtures looks like this:-

Today’s most interesting fixture is taking place at Solitude were North Belfast rivals Cliftonville and Crusaders meet for the first time this season. It’s been a disappointing couple of years for the home side and they will be seeking to change that this year. They’ve come through their opening two challenges relatively unscathed with a win and a draw giving them an unbeaten start but a visit from Stephen Baxter’s side will perhaps be their toughest test so far.

Elsewhere Larne and Ballymena United meet in a league fixture for the first time in over ten years. United finished as runners up last season and Larne will have their eyes set on European qualification as a minimum for this season so it should be a fascinating match-up.

The full fixture list is as follows with all games kicking off at 15:00:-

Cliftonville v Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts v Glentoran

Glenavon v Warrenpoint Town

Institute v Carrick Rangers

Larne v Ballymena United

Linfield v Coleraine

Once again we have our team of writers gathered to try and predict all the Danske Bank Premiership matches taking place this weekend. We will have an updated leaderboard after three rounds for you next week but first up this week is Adrian. As usual it’s three points for getting the result correct and a point for the correct outcome:-

Adrian

Cliftonville 1-1 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Glentoran

Glenavon 3-1 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 1-1 Carrick Rangers

Larne 2-0 Ballymena United

Linfield 4-2 Coleraine

Rodney

Cliftonville 2-1 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Glentoran

Glenavon 3-0 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 2-1 Carrick Rasngers

Larne 2-1 Ballymena United

Linfield 2-1 Coleraine

Bryan

Cliftonville 1-2 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 1-2 Glentoran

Glenavon 2-0 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 1-2 Carrick Rangers

Larne 2-1 Ballymena United

Linfield 2-0 Coleraine

Darren

Cliftonville 1-2 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 1-1 Glentoran

Glenavon 4-0 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 1-1 Carrick Rangers

Larne 4-1 Ballymena United

Linfield 3-0 Coleraine

Cameron

Cliftonville 1-3 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 0-1 Glentoran

Glenavon 2-0 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 0-0 Carrick Rangers

Larne 2-1 Ballymena United

Linfield 2-0 Coleraine

Keith

Cliftonville 1-0 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 0-1 Glentoran

Glenavon 3-1 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 0-0 Carrick Rangers

Larne 4-2 Ballymena United

Linfield 1-1 Coleraine

Henry

Cliftonville 2-2 Crusaders

Dungannon Swifts 1-3 Glentoran

Glenavon 3-0 Warrenpoint Town

Institute 1-0 Carrick Rangers

Larne 2-2 Ballymena United 2

Linfield 1-1 Coleraine