Danske Bank Premiership: bottom two hope new signings will increase survival chances

The games keep coming thick and fast in the Danske Bank Premiership as we have yet another full set of fixtures to look forward to tonight.

You can read up on the games from last weekend HERE as Larne’s poor start to 2021 continued as a draw against Glentoran on Friday night makes it four games without a win for Tiernan Lynch’s side, they currently trial leader Linfield by three points.

Ballymena and Coleraine both continued their excellent recent form with wins against Carrick and Crusaders respectively and Warrenpoint ended their three-game losing streak with a win against Portadown to move up a place into 8th spot.

In the final game of the weekend a late Ryan Curran goal rescued a point for Cliftonville against Glenavon, who had taken the lead through a Daniel Purkis penalty.

The game between Linfield and Dungannon was postponed on Friday afternoon in line with the NIFL Covid Case Policy.

Here is how the Danske Bank Premiership looks going into tonight’s games: –

POS TEAM P W D L F A GD PTS
1 Linfield 14 10 1 3 38 18 20 31
2 Larne 14 8 4 2 23 12 11 28
3 Crusaders 15 8 3 4 32 18 14 27
4 Coleraine 14 8 1 5 22 16 6 25
5 Ballymena United 13 7 2 4 21 13 8 23
6 Cliftonville 15 6 3 6 23 20 3 21
7 Glentoran 13 4 6 3 22 13 9 18
8 Warrenpoint Town 14 4 3 7 13 24 -11 15
9 Glenavon 12 3 5 4 18 19 -1 14
10 Portadown 12 2 3 7 13 28 -15 9
11 Dungannon Swifts 13 2 2 9 8 30 -22 8
12 Carrick Rangers 11 1 1 9 7 29 -22 4

 

Dungannon Swifts boss, Kirs Linday, was busy in the closing days of the transfer window signing no fewer than three players over the weekend, two of which are former Northern Ireland internationals.

Signing on the dotted line at Stangmore Park are former Manchester United and Linfield goalkeeper, Roy Carroll, former Coleraine and Crusaders striker, Rory Patterson and Nathaniel Ferris on loan from Loughgall.

Lindsay will certainly be hoping his new signings can make an immediate impact in tonight’s difficult away game against Ballymena, were they hope to end a run of five losses in a row.

Bottom side, Carrick Rangers, also added some much-needed firepower to their panel over the weekend with the addition of Cathair Friel from Ballymena. Friel scored 70 goals in 143 games at The Ballymena Showgrounds but was transfer listed following a breach of club discipline.

With only seven goals scored in the league this season it was no secret that Rangers needed a striker but whether they can create enough chances for Friel to convert remains to be seen, his first chance to do so will be tonight’s game against Warrenpoint.

Here is tonight’s full fixture list, all games kick off at 19:45 unless otherwise stated: –

Glenavon v Larne (Tuesday 2nd February 2021 at 19:30 – streamed on BBC Sport NI)

Ballymena United v Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine v Cliftonville

Crusaders v Glentoran

Linfield v Portadown

Warrenpoint Town v Carrick Rangers (match postponed)

First up with their predictions this week as Cameron, as always it’s three points for guessing a result correctly and a point for getting an outcome correct.

Cameron

Glenavon 1-2 Larne

Ballymena United 3-0 Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine 2-0 Cliftonville

Crusaders 2-0 Glentoran

Linfield 3-0 Portadown

Adrian

Glenavon 1-1 Larne

Ballymena United 2-0 Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine 2-1 Cliftonville

Crusaders 2-2 Glentoran

Linfield 4-0 Portadown

Richard

Glenavon 0-2 Larne

Ballymena United 1-1 Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine 2-0 Cliftonville

Crusaders 0-1 Glentoran

Linfield 2-0 Portadown

Darren

Glenavon 1-1 Larne

Ballymena United 1-0 Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine 2-1 Cliftonville

Crusaders 1-1 Glentoran

Linfield 3-0 Portadown

Rodney

Glenavon 0-2 Larne

Ballymena United 3-0 Dungannon Swifts

Coleraine 3-1 Cliftonville

Crusaders 2-0 Glentoran

Linfield 3-0 Portadown

Here is the full prediction league leaderboard with a new leader at the top following the last two rounds of fixtures: –

1. Cameron 62
2. Rodney 58
3. Adrian 43
4. Darren 41
5. Keith 36
6. Richard 35

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