Goalless in three games, missing their captain and bereft of confidence, Ilves go into this match very much as underdogs. The coaching staff have already spoken of anxiety and pain around this poor run, which runs deeper than the loss of Petteri Pennanen. The loan of signing Mali U20 striker Mery Traore is the only move so far, he came on as a sub in the loss to HJK last weekend. It was always likely to be a transitional season for Ilves but this has been pretty painful and only a Suomen Cup semi-final seems set to bring any cheer. It’s hard to see the drought ending in this fixture against an opponent in such effervescent form.

VPS go from strength to strength – five successive wins (after five straight defeats), a very comfortable win against Haka on Sunday took them into the top half and back into contention for Europe. New striker Harrison Sawyer came off the bench to score his first goal, but it was very much the Roni Hudd show with flicks, tricks and skills all with an end result. Meanwhile, Peter Michael, derided after a poor start, has four goals in five now and his post-match interview featured big smiles and a couple of F-bombs to demonstrate the excitement. With four of their remaining five fixtures against teams struggling, this side could yet continue to excel.

Six weeks ago, this had a relegation battle written all over it. A modern fairytale of momentum and inertia.

Just one week on from Drogheda United’s 2-1 FAI Cup win at this venue against Sligo Rovers, the teams meet again in a crucial Premier Division clash. With just one place and one point separating the sides towards the foot of the table, this is a relegation six-pointer.

Drogheda United fully deserved their cup win on Friday as they came from behind to advance to round two of the FAI Cup with Sligo Rovers manager John Russell admitting at full-time that his team “were not at it” and that they had been out-battled by the Louth men.

That is a hugely worrying, yet correct statement, with Sligo Rovers unable to live with the intensity the home side played with on the night. What makes things even worse from a Sligo point of view is that Russell admitted his players were fully aware of exactly what they were facing so to be rolled over so tamely suggests this is a Sligo Rovers team unwilling to roll their sleeves up and get their elbows dirty.

Despite sitting third from bottom in the table, Drogheda United have been one of the most consistent performers in the league. You know exactly what you are going to get from them every week, strong defensive organisation, the ability to play on the counterattack quickly as well as the option to go direct where required.

Veteran striker Ryan Brennan has filled the boots of Freddie Draper brilliantly since the teenager’s loan spell came to an end with his ability to pin centre halfs, win flick-ons and manufacture free kicks with his back to goal giving Drogheda a real platform to play off. Brennan linked up really well with wide man Adam Foley on Friday with Foley scoring five goals in his last six including on Friday.

The left-hand side was a real source of threat for Drogheda too with Dayule Rooney and Evan Weir running Sligo Rovers ragged with the Bit O’Red having veteran full-back Danny Lafferty sent off after he lashed out at Drogs substitute Kyle Robinson in the penalty area which allowed Ryan Brennan to slot the ball down the middle for the winner.

Drogheda United look like everything Sligo Rovers aren’t right now, a well-oiled unit who are in the fight to avoid the drop together. Should Sligo lose this you’d have to expect John Russell will be a man under pressure.

Bohemians will come into this league tie on a high after dumping their Dublin rivals Shelbourne out of the FAI Cup at Dalymount Park last Friday. Jonathan Afolabi’s goal was the difference on the night as the ex-Celtic striker brought his recent haul to five goals in five games with Bohemians beaten just once during that time.

However, a run of just one win in their last six league matches means Bohs are now embroiled in a dogfight to finish in the top four, a finish that could bring European football back to Dalymount Park next season depending on who wins the FAI Cup.

UCD will also come into this game having tasted a very rare win last time out as the Students scraped by First Division side Cobh Ramblers in the FAI Cup. That result probably only confirmed further what we already knew, this UCD team is a First Division side trying to compete in the top-flight but they will of course, soon be put out of their misery with relegation all but confirmed.

However, this is a fixture Bohemians have found tricky this season with Bohs winning twice against UCD by one-goal margins while they only drew with the league’s bottom side in their most recent encounter.

With Afolabi finally finding his goal-scoring boots, the Gypsies should have enough firepower at home to dispatch UCD whose top-flight record this season currently reads P24, W2, D3, L19.