Tarxien, Floriana in battle for second place

Floriana will be hoping to keep the pace with leaders Valletta by beating Tarxien Rainbows as the two teams cross swords in a direct clash for second place at the Hibernians Stadium on Sunday.

For a long period of time, the Rainbows were second in the table but following two draws with Qormi and Sliema and a defeat to Valletta, they lost ground, enabling Floriana to move second on 27 points, two ahead of them.

Floriana are coming from four successive wins after beating Marsaxlokk, Hamrun, Vittoriosa and Qormi and a win over Tarxien would put them in second place, ten points behind the leaders. A win for Tarxien, on the other hand, would put Noel Coleiro’s side twelve points behind Valletta.

Floriana will be unable to field their best formation due to the absence of the injured Daniel Nwoke and the suspended Pablo Doffo. However Ivan Woods should be back after missing the last two games.

In the first round, Tarxien defeated Floriana 2-0.

In the second match, Birkirkara will be all out for the three points as they take Vittoriosa Stars.

The Stripes are coming from a 2-0 win over Hamrun while Vittoriosa defeated Hibernians 2-1 in their last outing.

Andrei Agius and Rodolfo Kumbrevicius should make their debut for Birkirkara but Trevor Cilia is still injured. For Vittoriosa, Carlos Campagnoli and Kevin Mifsud are recovering from injuries.

In the first round, the two teams shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.

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