Championship challengers Valletta and Hibernians will be crossing swords this evening at the National Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm).

The match is the first of the five scheduled for this weekend – the second round of fixtures in the first phase of the Bank of Valletta Premier League. The other fixtures are scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday.

Both teams won their opening clashes the past weekend. Valletta beat newly promoted Vittoriosa Stars 3-0 while Hibernians obtained a 3-1 win against Floriana.

But while Valletta had to fight harder than expected to brush aside the stiff Vittoriosa challenge, Hibernians showed a lot of positive aspects in their impressive victory over the Greens.

The Citizens are, without doubt, a very strong outfit, but coach Jesmond Zerafa still has to bring out the best from his players, especially the new foreigners.

Today, they face their first veritable test as I feel convinced that Mark Miller’s boys this season are more mature. They also seem to be a much stronger side than that of last season, especially in the second phase – the Championship Pool.

This match could provide a very interesting battle between the Valletta defence and the Paolites’ attack.

Valletta’s Ramon dos Santos and former Hibs central defender Jonathan Caruana will certainly be tough opponents for the Hibs duo of free-scoring Paul McManus and Andrew Cohen.

Despite being so early in the season, I expect the two teams to go all out for a victory which will keep them at the top of the standings.