Current league leaders Rewa have the chance to extend their lead on top of the table as second placed Suva and third placed Ba will clash at ANZ Stadium on this Saturday while Labasa cannot lose to Navua if they want to stay in the Premier League.
The Vodafone Premier League’s ninth matchweek brings exiciting match as the major football league from Fiji heads into crunch time. Currently in the seventh position with seven points, Labasa will face Navua at Uprising Resort Ground and they do need to win to stay out of relegation zone. This match is Navua’s biggest chance to get closer to Labasa and dream about staying in the top-tier of Fijian football.
Labasa will not count on Antonio Tuivuna, Ilisoni Lolaivalu and Lekima Gonerau who are suspended while goalkeeper Akuila Mateisuva might miss this match as well after getting injured last week against Suva. AAnd it is with all these problems that Babasiga Lions will play an important away match: “Playing any team at their home is always tough so I don’t think it will be an easy ride for us. They’ll come out firing and they know that we are beaten so definitely they will be out firing and we will need to take heed of that and prepare well for Navua,” said Labasa’s head coach Ronil Lal.
Currently living a bad moment, Lautoka have a difficult challenge against Nadi at Prince Charles Park. The Bluez are in the fifth position in the league and the supporters are surely disappointed with team’s performance. On the other hand, Nadi have improved after COVID-19 pandemics and they have the best attack in the league with seventeen goals scored in eight matches so we can expect good things from them – “I think we are preparing well for this game and we want to see how consistent we are playing against Navua and we saw we made some mistakes which we ironed out and we prepared really well,” said Nadi’s head coach Kamal Swamy.
After an 1-1 draw against Ba, league leaders Rewa have the opportunity to grab three more points against Nasinu to stay on top of the table. However, the Delta Tigers will need to work hard to beat their opponents. Despite being in the sixth position with only eight points, Nasinu were a tough challenge for Rewa earlier this year in the second matchweek of the season when Rewa won by 4-3: “Nasinu is a good team and currently they’ve been disappointing other teams in terms of disrupting their performance. We cannot take away anything from Nasinu, they are equally good and they have grown game by game as the players are bettering themselves.” stated Rewa’s head coach Marika Rodu.
The most exciting game of the weekend is surely the clash between Ba and Suva at ANZ Stadium. Both sides will play all-out on this Sunday as a win can put one of these teams on top of the table if Rewa lose to Nasinu. While Ba are not going to count on Sanaila Waqanicakau who is suspended, Suva must have Filipe Baravilala in the starting eleven as the right back is cleared to play after missing last weekend’s match due to suspension.
After this weekend there will be only five rounds left for the end of the Vodafone Premier League so these matches can define the future of the championship. You can check the current league standings, results and top scorers by clicking here.
Oceania Football Center 