Sliema face rival neighbours Gzira; Birkirkara face Valletta and Hibernians come up against Floriana

The Bank of Valletta Premier League promises to have a bright start after the two-week stoppage for the international matches in the UEFA Nations League.

In this weekend's programme - over three days - we have three top clashes where the leading three teams will be facing opponents who will all be expected to be title challengers later on during the season.

At present, Sliema, Hibernians and Birkirkara are the leaders - unbeaten and all with maximum points after two matches.

They are followed by Gzira and Hamrun Spartans on 4, Tarxien, Balzan, Mosta, Qormi and St Andrews on 3 and Pieta, Floriana, Senglea and Valletta on zero points.

The major surprises have arrived from champions Valletta and Floriana who have lost their opening two matches and are still lingering at the bottom of the table together with Senglea and Pieta - they all still have to win their first point of the new season.

Sliema Wanderers could not have had a better start as they beat top clubs Valletta and Floriana to collect an impressive 6 points.

Sliema have shown that they could be potential title challengers this season and on current form, they should be able to overcome another tough hurdle in the form of their rival neighbours Gzira United.

The latter, however, have had quite a satisfactory start to the season, but in their last encounter, they were held to a goalless draw by Hamrun Spartans, thus missing out on two points.

It should be a close match with the Wanderers aiming to conquer their rivals for a third consecutive win.

Hibernians also face a tough challenge this evening as they take on a hungry Floriana side, disappointed after the loss of six points from their opening two clashes.

The Greens are back in the hands of coach Luis Oliveira after the club management sacked former coach Nicholas Chiesa due to the bad start to the season.

This evening, they will be expected to go all out to gain all the three points not to keep distancing themselves from the leading pack, but they still have to find suitable replacements for Piciollo and Fontanella, now on the books of Valletta FC.

Third placed (though also on 6 points) Birkirkara will be facing Valletta and I consider this to be the match of the weekend.

Not only because of the rivalry that exists between the two clubs, but also because both will be after the three points for various reasons.

Valletta, in particular, haven't had such a bad start to a league campaign for several seasons and they will certainly be expected to do their very best to collect all the three points.

Their hopes lie mainly on new signings Bojan Kaljevic (from Balzan) and Mario Fontanella (from Floriana) who should form a terrible trio together with Fontanella.

They are still waiting to move away from the bottom of the table - certainly not a usual place for the citizens.

But Birkirkara are on a high and it is obvious that they will also be aiming for the three points, especially if Hibernians and Sliema continue with their winning trend.

But the Stripes, like Valletta, have been somewhat unimpressive in their performances and in their last encounter, they struggled to get past Pieta 2-1.

In the other matches, it will be Hamrun-St Andrews; Qormi-Pieta H., Senglea-Balzan and Mosta-Tarxien.