All eyes will be on Douglas Road on Saturday afternoon where the top two sides in the Canada Life Premier League this Saturday battle it out for supremacy.

Peel and Corinthians are only separated by virtue of the Whites’ superior goal difference, with both sides having recorded 11 wins and a draw from the opening 14 games of the 2017-18 season.

The duo have a six-point gap over reigning champions St George’s but, with the latter having three games in hand, they know that neither side can realistically afford to drop many more points between now and the end of the campaign. The sides last met in the reverse fixture back in October when the westerners edged past Corinthians by the odd goal in five at Ballafletcher.

This, plus Peel’s current form - winning their last seven successive games which is the second best run in senior men’s football at the moment - means that Steve Falconer’s men will begin the clash as marginal favourites.

However, with main striker Sean Doyle in red-hot form and Stephen Whitley in fine fettle as well, coupled with strong performers all over the park, Corinthians will fancy their own chances of claiming three points from this clash, therefore it should be a cracker.

With one, if not both, of the top two dropping points this weekend, St George’s and Rushen United will be expected to close the gap at the summit when they entertain sides battling relegation.

Third-placed Geordies will be surefire favourites to comfortably see off the challenge of struggling Colby who suffered a 9-0 reverse at the hands of Corinthians last time out.

Rushen will also be expected to get the better of Douglas Royal at Croit Lowey but three wins in the last five games has propelled Royal out of the relegation zone and given them real hope of pulling off a great escape.

Bottom-of-the-table Ramsey face another potentially difficult afternoon when they make the journey to St John’s who were in ruthless form in their last outing when putting Division Two outfit Douglas and District to the sword 13-0 in the FA Cup.

The final game of the afternoon promises to be a much closer and more interesting affair as lower midtable duo Douglas Athletic and Laxey lock horns knowing that three points would likely see them safe from the drop.