The Bank of Valletta Premier League takes an interesting turn this afternoon when two important Championship Pool matches are being played at the National Stadium.

Tomorrow, at the Hibernians Stadium, two very important matches in connection with the Relegation Pool are on the card. The programme will come to an end on Monday with two more clashes at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

In today’s clashes, league leaders Valletta will be facing rivals Birkirkara, while in the other clash, second placed Hibernians face Floriana, currently occupying third place with Birkirkara on 21 points each.

It should be a highly interesting afternoon at the Ta’ Qali National Stadium.

The Valletta-Birkirkara match, in particular, promises to be a spectacular encounter with the two teams showing in their most recent matches that they have finally returned to their best form.

Last week, Valletta crushed Balzan Youths 7-2 while Birkirkara beat Floriana 3-1.

It is evident that the two teams will be going all out for the points, for different reasons.

Valletta, although leading the standings, are aware of the Hibs challenge for the title, and as the Paolites continue winning as well, the citizens cannot afford to lose points if they entertain hopes of remaining on top till the very end.

However, the citizens’ performance against Balzan last Tuesday confirmed that they can be quite unbeatable on their day.

On the other hand, Birkirkara are also aware that they have to continue with their positive trend as they are now battling for an Europa League berth next season.

The Stripes have now gone through consecutive victories and are genuinely hoping to extend their positive run. It is well to note that in these last three matches, Birkirkara have scored nine goals – a vast improvement over their scoring record in the first phase.

Hibernians and Floriana meet in the opening match this afternoon with the same aspirations of Valetta and Birkirkara – even more perhaps, because they will have to play earlier.

The Paolites remained in a challenging position two points behind the leaders after their 2-1 win against Sliema in midweek, while Floriana have to get back quickly into a positive mood after their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Birkirkara last Wednesday and their recent results which have seen them dropping a number of points.

The Greens will certainly be handicapped by the absence of I. Woods, M. Micallef and E. Akoto. The latter two players were shown a red card during the match against Birkirkara.

Moreover, the Greens will also be without coach Michael Woods who has tendered his resignation, together with some other members of the technical staff, after the dismal midweek defeat.

On the other hand, the Paolites coach Mark Miller seems to have no such problems and he still believes he can push Valletta to the title battle till the very end.

The other Championship Pool clash on Monday should see Sliema returning to winning form as they face bottom club Balzan Youths, certainly demoralised after their 7-2 drubbing against leaders Valletta last Tuesday.

In the Relegation Pool, all matches should be worth watching.

Tomorrow, in the first match, Marsaxlokk will be facing Hamrun Spartans, while in the second encounter, Qormi come up against Tarxien.

It is still early to say whether bottom placed Marsaxlokk will be able to maintain their improvement shown in their last encounter when they battled to what had seemed an unlikely win against leaders Qormi.

Now they have to face a Spartans side which lies just two points above them in the standings and certainly cannot afford to lose points from this encounter.

The Spartans showed a lot of character in their match against Mosta in midweek coming back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 with Mosta.

In the second match, Tarxien, who left a good impression in their 1-0 win against Mqabba last week, will be looking forward towards another positive result even if they will be facing leaders Qormi this time.

The Rainbows played quite well in adverse conditions against Mqabba and even if they had only one goal to show at the end, they richly deserved their win.

Qormi, on the other hand, were completely surprised by Marsaxlokk and will now have to win tomorrow’s clash to set their minds somewhat at rest.

At present they still have a comfortable cushion at the top, but another defeat tomorrow may possibly open they way for a crisis which could lead to other unimpressive performances in their forthcoming matches.

Monday’s match between Mosta and Mqabba has also grown in importance after the Relegation Pool’s opening three matches.

At present Mosta have 13 points while Mqabba are in fifth place, on 10.