Title rivals Hibernians and Valletta look to gain a psychological edge in this season’s title race when they go head-to-head in the stand-out fixture of the midweek Premier League programme at the National Stadium tomorrow (kick-off: 8pm).

Although it is still early days to label the fixture decisive, there is a growing consensus that the outcome could have a significant bearing on both teams’ aspirations to start the Championship Pool from pole position.

At present, Hibernians are sharing top spot with Birkirkara but Valletta are breathing down their necks as they are only a point adrift in third place.

The Citizens are in high spirits following Sunday’s dominant performance in a 2-0 win over Floriana.

Edmund Agius, scorer of City’s second goal, said victory in the derby was a huge boost ahead of the clash against Hibs.

“We are all looking forward to play this match against Hibs,” Agius told Times of Malta yesterday.

“The performance against Floriana has instilled a lot of belief in us and the players are raring to go for the three points on Wednesday (tomorrow).

“The first-round defeat to Hibs was very hard to fathom but since then we did a lot of progress and improved as a team. There is more team-work in our game and that has only helped us to raise our levels.

“This will be the second big match for us in the space of few days and we are determined to chalk up another win.”

Valletta defender Jonathan Caruana could return to the intitial XI after starting on the bench against Floriana but new striker Lateef Elford-Alliyu remains on the sidelines alongside Ian Azzopardi and Hamza Barry.

The change in schedule favoured Hibernians as tomorrow they’ll have midfielder Bjorn Kristensen available after serving his suspension on Saturday when the Paolites thrashed troubled Vittoriosa Stars 5-1.

The Malta U-21 midfielder reckons Valletta are a stronger team than the one that lost 3-2 to Hibs in the corresponding first round fixture.

However, he said, that only increases the Paolites’ resolve to go out for the win and open a four-point lead over the Citizens in the standings.

“Valletta have strengthened their team significantly and they will be difficult to beat. That makes our task more difficult but we’re not fearing our opponents,” Kristensen said.

“In recent weeks we could have produced better fare but the most important thing at this stage is to win matches and we have been very consistent in that.

“I think this is a must-win match for both teams as victory would put us in a stronger position in the standings besides keeping Valletta at a distance.”

Change of venue

The midweek programme gets under way this evening when Vittoriosa Stars take on Mosta while Birkirkara face Sliema Wan-derers in the second match.

These matches were originally pencilled for the Tedesco Stadium, but the Malta FA yesterday announced that the two fixtures have been switched to the Hibs Stadium with kick-off times set at 6pm and 8pm respectively.

BOV Premier League statistics

Balzan: Negrin 3 (1 pen); Agius, Scicluna, Aboulezz, Bezzina, Pereira, Darmanin, Sci-berras, Spiteri, Micallef, Grima.
Red cards: Agius (vs Vittoriosa Stars), Vignaroli (vs Sliema Wanderers), Aboulezz (vs Mosta), Falzon (vs Naxxar), Grioli (vs Naxxar).

Birkirkara: Jhonnattann 5, Haruna 5; Temile 3, Fenech 3 (1 pen); Matheus 2, Vella 2; Toure, Zerafa.
Own goal: Camilleri (vs Valletta).
Red card: Bissi (vs Hibernians).

Floriana: Coronado 7; Muir 3 (1 pen); Bogdanovic 2, Pisani 2, Diogo 2.
Own goal: Doffo (vs Naxxar).

Hibernians: Edison 9; Failla 8 (5 pens); Cohen 5; Lima 4; Soares 3; Obiefule 2; Levnaic, Farrugia, Kristensen.
Red cards: Pearson (vs Vittoriosa, vs Naxxar), Camilleri (vs Mosta).

Mosta: Piccioni 6 (1 pen), Fernandes 6 (2 pens); Kaljevic 3 (1 pen); Grech 2, T. Farrugia 2; Brincat, Pereira, Micallef, Silva Faria.
Own goals: S. Gauci (vs Rabat Ajax), Bugeja (vs Qormi).
Red card: Ekani (vs Tarxien).

Naxxar Lions: Gilmar 4 (1 pen); Falzon 3, Rocha Da Silva 3 (1 pen); Thiago 2; Scerri, Buhagiar, Ani, Bonnici, Evaldo.
Red cards: Drago (vs Sliema Wanderers); Buhagiar (vs Tarxien Rainbows), Del Negro (vs Vittoriosa).

Qormi: Effiong 5 (1 pen); Bajada 3 (2 pens); Innocenti 2; Sammut, Bugeja, Grech, Jorginho, Del Giudice, Gabriel.
Red cards: Bugeja (vs Floriana), Farrugia (vs Floriana), Pisani (vs Sliema).

Rabat Ajax: Carrillo 2, Licari 2; Pelaez, Avila Perez, Gauci, Azzopardi.
Red cards: Falzon (vs Mosta); S. Gauci (vs Qormi).

Sliema Wanderers: Ohawuchi 9; Muc-hardi 4; Navarra 3, Bello-Osagie 3 (2 pens), A. Muscat 3, Cilia 3; Bianciardi, Gueye.
Red cards: Gatt Baldacchino (vs Tarxien), Mintoff (vs Valletta), Scerri (vs Qormi), Rapino (vs Naxxar).

Tarxien Rainbows: Ronaille 10 (2 pens); Jorge 4; Martinelli, Mamo.
Red cards: Potezica (vs Hibernians), Jorge (vs Sliema), Lopes (vs Rabat), Vella (vs Valletta, vs Qormi).

Valletta: Denni 11; Agius 3, Nafti 3; Mifsud Triganza 2, Nyang 2, Caruana 2, Fenech 2; Barry, Camilleri, Zammit, Romulo, Briffa.
Red cards: Agius (vs Mosta), Denni (vs Hibs), Vandelannoite (vs Balzan).

Vittoriosa Stars: Guerrero 7 (1 pen.); Pe-reira 2; Teruel, Martin, Samir Arab, Aguiar.
Red card: Aguiar (vs Tarxien).

Fixtures

Playing today
Hibs Stadium: 18.00 Vittoriosa Stars vs Mosta; 20.00 Sliema vs Birkirkara.

Tomorrow
Tedesco Stadium: 18.00 Naxxar Lions vs Qormi; 20.15 Tarxien vs Floriana.
National Stadium: 18.00 Rabat vs Balzan; 20.00 Valletta vs Hibernians.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Hibernians	13	10	2	1	34	13	32
Birkirkara	13	10	2	1	23	10	32
Valletta	13	10	1	2	30	8	31
Sliema	13	7	4	2	27	16	25
Mosta	13	6	1	6	25	24	19
Naxxar Lions	13	4	3	6	17	20	15
Floriana (-6)	13	5	3	5	17	16	12
Balzan	13	3	3	7	13	20	12
Tarxien	13	3	3	7	16	27	12
Qormi	13	3	2	8	16	24	11
Vittoriosa	13	2	3	8	13	27	9
Rabat Ajax	13	1	1	11	8	34	4