The Premier League continues today and tomorrow with another four matches – two today and another two tomorrow.

The front runners, Valletta and Hibernians, will both be in action today, facing Hamrun and Marsaxlokk respectively. Tomorrow, Birkirkara face Mosta in the first match while Floriana come up against Tarxien in the second match of the afternoon.

In today’s matches, both Valletta and Hibernians are not expected to falter. In fact, they are both considered favourites to bag another three points to confirm their status as the front runners.

Valletta, in particular, should have an easy time against a heavily depleted Hamrun side, simply because the Spartans have four players ruled out through suspension after last week’s controversial clash with Balzan which saw them losing 2-1 aas they suffered two goals in the final few minutes after having led 1-0 for most of the time.

The Spartans today cannot make use of Kevin Sammut, Rupert Mangion, Gaetan Spiteri and Lee Agius who were all involved in the rather hot protests against referee Esther Azzopardi.

Valletta, on the other hand, almost have a full squad at the disposal of coach Jesmond Zerafa, with the exception of the suspended Ian Azzopardi.

After their 4-1 win against Tarxien, the citizens are not expected to lose any points from today’s encounter.

Even Hibernians should be considered favourites to beat the dispirited Marsaxlokk side, although this could turn out to be a tricky tie for the Paolites.

This is because they will have to face the southern seasiders without two of their best players – top scorer Luis Edison dos Santos and Marcelo Dias. Both are suspended and therefore unavailable.

Marsaxlokk are still a shaken side after the recent happenings at the club. But things have improved a little now, especially with the arrival of Anton Cremona as coach.

Last week, they just managed a 0-0 draw against bottom side Mosta. Today they will be expected to play a defensive game in an effort to get away with a positive result.

Tomorrow, Birkirkara will be seeking to return to winning form after their very poor performance against Qormi last Monday.

The Stripes’ performance was simply undescribable in that match against Qormi and one might now expect coach Paul Zammit to ring the changes in a side that lacks motivation and commitment.

Tomorrow they face bottom placed Mosta, and unless they win the three points, they will not convince their fans that they will certainly be among the Top Six in the second phase.

Mosta will certainly do their utmost to make the most of the current bad run of the Stripes. But they will have to be more accurate in front of goal than they were against Marsaxlokk last week if they are to entertain hopes of getting something positive from this encounter.

In the final match tomorrow, Floriana must also be considered firm favourites to beat the Rainbows to maintain their positive run and consolidate third place in the standings.

The Greens, however, have to avoid the risks they have been taking in the last two matches when they only made sure of the three points by scoring goals in the final moments.

The Rainbows will hopefully put on a good display as they were doing against Valletta last week until the dismissal of Caio Garcia Suguino which meant the team’s downfall.

The latter will be absent tomorrow through suspension. Still, I expect the Rainbows to offer some decent resistance to the Greens.