After the Irish Cup 6th round last week, it’s back to the Danske Bank Premiership today, and quite possibly one of the most exciting title chases in Europe.
The full Premiership league table looks like this, with just four points separating the top five:-
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Linfield | 27 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 59 | 22 | 37 | 57 |
| 2 | Glentoran | 27 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 58 | 28 | 30 | 56 |
| 3 | Crusaders | 27 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 63 | 23 | 40 | 55 |
| 4 | Coleraine | 27 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 55 | 23 | 32 | 53 |
| 5 | Cliftonville | 27 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 44 | 20 | 24 | 53 |
| 6 | Larne | 27 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 51 | 29 | 22 | 44 |
| 7 | Glenavon | 27 | 9 | 4 | 14 | 41 | 65 | -24 | 31 |
| 8 | Carrick Rangers | 27 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 31 | 43 | -12 | 28 |
| 9 | Ballymena United | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 32 | 44 | -12 | 26 |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 26 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 28 | 68 | -40 | 22 |
| 11 | Warrenpoint Town | 27 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 19 | 76 | -57 | 16 |
| 12 | Institute | 27 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 20 | 60 | -40 | 14 |
My pick for game of the day is at The Oval where Glentoran host Coleraine. The Glens have gone all out for the first league title since 2009 with strikers Rory Donnelly, Andrew Mitchell and most recently Deivydas Matulevičius signing in recent weeks – up front was one area I felt they would look to strengthen. Mick McDermott’s side have been dealt a blow though with the news that midfielder Hrvoje Plum is set for a lengthy spell on the side-lines.
Coleraine strengthened their own attacking options on deadline day with the return of Curtis Allen to The Showgrounds from Glentoran. The former Linfield and Inverness striker will not feature against his former teammates today due to his move currently being a loan move and becoming permanent at the end of this season but after scoring 110 goals for the Glens in just under 250 appearances, he will likely receive a warm welcome from the Glens fans when he does eventually return to East Belfast.
This is the third time the Glens and Bannsiders have met this season with nothing to separate the sides in the previous league fixtures that both finished 2-2. Oran Kearney’s side did win the League Cup fixture between the sides in October by two goals to one.
Tomorrow’s full fixture list is as follows, all games kick off at 15:00:-
Ballymena United v Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville v Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon v Crusaders
Glentoran v Coleraine
Institute v Larne
Warrenpoint Town v Linfield
In our Writer’s Prediction League the leader is currently Rodney who holds a two-point lead over Cameron and Bryan sits in 3rd place. The full table looks like this:-
| 1: Rodney | 97 |
| 2: Cameron | 95 |
| 3: Bryan | 91 |
| 4: Adrian/Darren | 85 |
| 6: Keith | 71 |
Up first with his predictions this week is Darren. As always it’s three points for a correct result and a point for a correct outcome.
Darren
Ballymena United 1-1 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 0-1 Crusaders
Glentoran 2-0 Coleraine
Institute 0-4 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 1-3 Linfield
Rodney
Ballymena United 2-1 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 3-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 1-3 Crusaders
Glentoran 2-1 Coleraine
Institute 0-3 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 1-4 Linfield
Adrian
Ballymena United 3-1 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 3-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 1-1 Crusaders
Glentoran 1-2 Coleraine
Institute 1-2 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 0-5 Linfield
Cameron
Ballymena United 1-1 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 4-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 1-3 Crusaders
Glentoran 1-1 Coleraine
Institute 0-2 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 0-4 Linfield
Bryan
Ballymena United 1-1 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 2-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 1-3 Crusaders
Glentoran 2-2 Coleraine
Institute 0-3 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 0-3 Linfield
Keith
Ballymena United 0-0 Carrick Rangers
Cliftonville 1-0 Dungannon Swifts
Glenavon 1-1 Crusaders
Glentoran 2-1 Coleraine
Institute 2-2 Larne
Warrenpoint Town 3-2 Linfield
