The Bank of Valletta Premier League resumes this weekend with another nail-biting programme, especially tomorrow’s two matches.

In the first match, new league leaders and defending champions Marsaxlokk will be facing second phase revelation side Birkirkara, while in the match that follows, second placed Valletta meet their great rivals Floriana.

Two other matches are being played today with Mqabba facing Msida in the Relegation Pool match – the first at the Hibs Ground. In the second match, Sliema Wanderers will be facing Hamrun Spartans.

The two main matches are obviously those being played tomorrow. In fact, I think both Marsaxlokk and Valletta will be made to fight hard to win the points at stake, even if Valletta seem to have the easiest tie of the two.

Not that it will be easy against Floriana who always seem to find their best form against their city and suburban rivals.

There is no doubt that this will be a keen clash which will attract a sizeable crowd to Ta’ Qali tomorrow, but even the Birkirkara-Marsaxlokk encounter should be explosive.

Brian Talbot’s side have managed to maintain their positive run with a 2-1 defeat of Floriana and another (4-2) over Sliema in their opening two Championship Pool encounters, thus moving to the top of the standings, after Valletta stumbled to a 1-1 draw against Birkirkara.

The Stripes had beaten Sliema before drawing with Valletta, but their current form will make the defending champions tremble, as it was only some unnecessary over confidence that made them pay the price against the citizens – a match the Stripes should have made sure of well before Valletta squeezed a last-gasp equaliser.

Today, Sliema Wanderers seem to have a good chance of redeeming themselves after a very poor start to the Championship Pool – they suffered two consecutive defeats which have seen them dropping to fourth place in the standings, just one point above bottom placed Hamrun and Floriana and a full seven points adrift of the leaders.

They can only get back into contention if they win today and hope for Birkirkara and Floriana to defeat Marsaxlokk and Valletta respectively tomorrow.

In the Relegation Pool match, Msida must beat Mqabba to distance themselves further from the bottom two clubs in the standings.