Tarxien aim at returning to victory against depleted Mqabba

Precious points will be at stake on Saturday as Tarxien Rainbows take on Mqabba and Qormi face Mosta in the two BOV Premier League matches in programme at the Victor Tedesco Stadium.

In the first match, Tarxien will be hoping to end their negative run as they take on a depleted Mqabba side. In fact, Clive Mizzi could not count on no less than five suspended players besides others who are injured.

During the game against Hibernians, the Reds had Bojan Mamic and Branislav Timotic sent off while Marko Potezica, Mark Anthony Psaila and Clayton Micallef all collected their fourth yellow card. All these are therefore ruled out together with the injured Andrew Scicluna.

It will be an uphill task for Mqabba who lost just two of the last six matches and are currently seventh on ten points.

The Rainbows, on the other hand, are desperate for victory. They are coming from three successive defeats and lost six of the eight matches played so far. Former Marsaxlokk and Birkirkara coach Patrick Curmi takes over as their new mentor, replacing Noel Coleiro who led the club to two top-five finishes in the last two years.

Brazilian midfielder Ricardo Costa is suspended for Tarxien.

In the second match, Qormi take on Mosta.

The team led by Stephen Azzopardi is currently sharing the fourth place together with Birkirkara and Sliema after winning three of the last five matches. In their last outing, they defeated Marsaxlokk 3-1. Mosta, on the other hand, still lie at the bottom of the table but they registered a morale-boosting 3-2 win over Sliema last week.

A win is a must for both sides as the Yellow-Blacks would join Floriana in third place while Mosta could abandon the bottom place should Tarxien fail to beat Mqabba.