The biggest match of the weekend in the Danske Bank Premiership takes place tonight and you can watch every kick on BBCNI as they kick start their live Irish League matches for the season. They couldn’t have predicted a better tie to start with as Belfast rivals Crusaders and Linfield face each other at Seaview.
The Crues are currently five points clear at the summit and defending champions Linfield are occupying fourth place but do have games in hand, both sides have only dropped points once in the league this season and will be determined not to give up any more tonight. Crusaders manager Stephen Baxter has played down the importance of tonight’s fixture but the reality is both he and counterpart David Healy will know if they are to win the league this season these fixtures will be crucial.
It’s been two defeats in three league games for Mick McDermott’s Glentoran side and last week they were convincingly beaten by Crusaders, they will hope for a return to winning ways tonight, they face a Cliftonville side who were also on the losing end of their last fixture against Ballymena. A win for the Glens would move them ahead of tonight’s opponents and back into the top six.
Glenavon have had a poor start to the season and find themselves hovering just above the relegation zone, last week they were well and truly thrashed 7-0 by Linfield. Tonight they face a Larne side who have had mixed fortunes in their first season back in the Premiership knowing that they will need to get points on the board sooner rather than later.
This weekend’s fixtures are as follows:-
Crusaders v Linfield (tonight at 19:45 – live on BBC2NI)
Glentoran v Cliftonville (tonight at 19:45)
Larne v Glenavon (tonight at 19:45)
Carrick Rangers v Coleraine (tomorrow at 15:00)
Institute v Ballymena United (tonight at 15:00)
Warrenpoint Town v Dungannon Swifts (tonight at 15:00)
At the moment the Premiership table looks like this:-
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Crusaders | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 10 | 20 | 22 |
| 2 | Coleraine | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 8 | 13 | 17 |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 | Linfield | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 15 |
| 5 | Ballymena United | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | Glentoran | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 14 |
| 7 | Dungannon Swifts | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 19 | -7 | 14 |
| 8 | Larne | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 12 |
| 9 | Glenavon | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 7 |
| 10 | Carrick Rangers | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 6 |
| 11 | Institute | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 24 | -17 | 4 |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 29 | -26 | 0 |
In our prediction league, Adrian continues to lead the way but is being closely followed by Bryan. At this stage a good or bad week for anyone could change things completely with the current leaderboard reading like this:-
| 1: Adrian | 37 |
| 2: Rodney | 34 |
| 3: Cameron | 32 |
| 4: Bryan | 29 |
| 5: Darren | 27 |
| 6: Keith | 25 |
First to bring us his Danske Bank Premiership predictions this week is Keith and like always he will get three points for the correct result and a point for the correct outcome.
Keith
Crusaders 1-0 Linfield
Glentoran 2-1 Cliftonville
Larne 2-1 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 1-4 Coleraine
Institute 1-0 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 1-3 Dungannon Swifts
Rodney
Crusaders 1-2 Linfield
Glentoran 1-1 Cliftonville
Larne 2-0 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 1-2 Coleraine
Institute 1-2 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 1-2 Dungannon Swifts
Darren
Crusaders 2-1 Linfield
Glentoran 1-1 Cliftonville
Larne 2-0 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 0-3 Coleraine
Institute 1-2 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 0-4 Dungannon Swifts
Cameron
Crusaders 2-1 Linfield
Glentoran 2-2 Cliftonville
Larne 4-1 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 0-2 Coleraine
Institute 0-2 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 1-2 Dungannon Swifts
Adrian
Crusaders 2-2 Linfield
Glentoran 1-1 Cliftonville
Larne 3-1 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 1-2 Coleraine
Institute 0-2 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 0-2 Dungannon Swifts
Bryan
Crusaders 1-0 Linfield
Glentoran 2-2 Cliftonville
Larne 2-1 Glenavon
Carrick Rangers 1-3 Coleraine
Institute 0-3 Ballymena United
Warrenpoint Town 0-3 Dungannon Swifts
There are also six Bluefin Sport Championship games in Northern Ireland tonight with the following fixtures tomorrow at 15:00 unless otherwise stated:-
Portadown v Newry City (tonight at 19:45)
Ards v Queens University
Dergview v Knockbreda
Dundela v Ballyclare Comrades
Loughgall v Harland and Wolff Welders
PSNI v Ballinamallard United
Here is the Championship league table:-
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Portadown | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 5 | 19 | 25 |
| 2 | Loughgall | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 21 |
| 3 | Ballinamallard United | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 19 |
| 4 | Dundela | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 18 |
| 5 | Ards | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 15 |
| 6 | Newry City | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 15 | 5 | 14 |
| 7 | PSNI | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 26 | -10 | 13 |
| 8 | Dergview | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 15 | -1 | 11 |
| 9 | Ballyclare Comrades | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 22 | 27 | -5 | 10 |
| 10 | Queens University | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 16 | 24 | -8 | 9 |
| 11 | HW Welders | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 23 | -11 | 9 |
| 12 | Knockbreda | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 24 | -14 | 5 |
