The other matches this weekend

Dingli Swallows vs Tarxien Rainbows (today at 5 p.m., National Stadium).
A balanced encounter is in the offing when Tarxien Rainbows open their second season in the Premier League against newcomers Dingli Swallows.

The Rainbows will be keen to cement their status among the big boys and victory against the Swallows will inject some much-needed confidence ahead of what promises to be another tight tussle to avoid the drop.

Noel Coleiro, the Tarxien coach, cannot bank on Andrew Decesare, Stacey Vella and Ryan Grech, all three suspended, while Mark Tanti is unfit.

For Dingli, today's match will mark a new chapter in their history. They have made several signings during the close season as they look to put up a strong challenge.

Jesmond Zammit, the Dingli coach, is sweating on the fitness of midfielder Andre Rocha Da Silva who is hampered with a hamstring injury while Haruna Doda is still unavailable as the Nigerian will only be registered once he receives his Maltese passport next week.

Sliema Wanderers vs Vittoriosa Stars (today at 7 p.m., National Stadium).
Buoyed by their the Super Cup victory, Sliema Wanderers are clear favourites to kickstart their campaign with three points at the expense of newly-promoted Vittoriosa Stars.

The Wanderers produced an impressive showing against Hibernians as they managed to tame the champions despite playing for more than 65 minutes with ten men following the first-half dismissal of Mark Scerri who is out of today's match.

Today, the Wanderers are expected to find little difficulty in having the better of a revamped Vittoriosa side who will be making their first appearance in the top flight after an absence of 33 years.

It will be interesting to see whether coach Winston Muscat has successfully managed to amalgamate his team having 14 members of his squad joining the Cottonera outfit this summer. Among them are Jeffrey Chetcuti and Henry Bonello, formerly of Sliema.

Floriana vs Qormi (tomorrow at 5 p.m., National Stadium).
Roddy Collins will make his competitive debut as Floriana coach when he leads the Greens against Qormi in their opening league match of the season.

The Irish coach took the reins of Floriana during the summer and tried hard the past weeks to strengthen his squad as he looks to reinstate the club among the top teams in the league.

The Greens had a rather difficult time in the transfer window managing just four signings with Clifton Ciantar and Christian Cassar returning to the club that had fostered their careers along with goalkeeper Bernard Paris and English striker Donovan Simmonds.

In Qormi, Floriana are sure to face tough opponents as the Yellow-Blacks will want to establish themselves in the top flight after avoiding the drop last season.

Jesmond Zerafa again has a group of players with useful experience in the top flight and his main objective in this opening phase would be to gain as many points as possible to try and secure Qormi's status as early as possible.

Hibernians vs Marsaxlokk (tomorrow at 7 p.m., National Stadium).
Champions Hibernians open their title defence with a tricky test against Marsaxlokk.

The Paolites will be keen to put behind them the disappointing performance of last Monday's Super Cup defeat to Sliema to start their title defence in style.

This week, coach Mark Miller bolstered his team with the addition of former Malta forward Etienne Barbara. Nigerian striker Charles Obi Ikechukwu left the club after he failed to impress on Monday while a decision has yet to be taken on English trialist Iyseden Christie.

Miller is without Aaron Xuereb and Jean Paul Farrugia who are recovering from injury.

Marsaxlokk are expected to be at full strength with coach Patrick Curmi hopeful his team will put aside their poor performances in pre-season.

The southerners will field a new foreign line-up this season after snapping the services of Bulgarians Martin Deanov and Emil Yanchev and Benin forward Florent Raimy while new goalkeeper Glenn Zammit could start in goal after joining from Gudja.