Corinthians resume their quest to win a maiden Canada Life Premier League title this weekend when Manx football returns.

The March and early April circuit-breaker lockdown means that most clubs haven’t kicked a ball in anger since February 20.

Indeed, the stop/start nature of the 2020-21 campaign has meant that some clubs haven’t played a game since mid-December.

Therefore, form is well and truly out of the window and there may be scope for some surprise results this weekend.

Corinthians, though, will fancy their chances of moving a step closer to lifting that elusive Premier League title when they host Douglas Athletic at Ballafletcher.

Both of these sides were in action in the previous round of fixtures on February 20 when the Whites hammered DHSOB 10-0 and DAFC went down heavily at near-neighbours St Mary’s, losing 1-7 at the Bowl.

The home side will be sure-fire favourites to triumph this weekend, especially having won the reverse fixture 10-2 when Sean Doyle and Stephen Whitley helped themselves to a hat-trick apiece.

Victory for Corinthians would put potentially put Blane Slattery’s men 15 points clear at the top should nearest rivals Rushen United lose away at Ramsey and leave the Whites with only five games to play, albeit the Spaniards would have two games in hand.

But the Croit Lowey side will be expected to win that match at Ballacloan this Saturday and complete the double over the northerners after beating them 5-0 earlier in the campaign.

The Spaniards have only played once since the turn of the year though - and that was a high-scoring defeat at the hands of leaders Corinthians in early February.

Therefore, Liam Cowin’s southerners will be desperate to get back to winning ways and maintain some semblance of pressure on the Whites at the top of the table.

Ramsey need the points for themselves though, as the Ballacloan outfit currently lie ninth in the table and only two points above the relegation zone as the business end of the season approaches.

A potentially huge game at the bottom of the table takes place at Blackberry Lane where DHSOB entertain fellow strugglers Douglas Royal.

At present, the latter side sit 10th only one point ahead of their opponents this weekend and having played a game more. Therefore, there is a lot at stake in this clash.

Victory for Royal gives them a huge boost in their battle to stave off relegation and would leave Old Boys right in the thick of it.

But a win for the home side lifts them out of the dropzone and also potentially above Ramsey and Douglas Athletic should results go their way.

Marown are still at risk of being dragged into the relegation dogfight, therefore they will be eager to win when they host Ayre United at the Memorial Playing Fields in Crosby.

Neither side has played in more than four months so there will probably be a distinct lack of match sharpness - although the same could be said for all the teams - therefore it’s difficult to predict which way this one will go.

Both teams have picked up some memorable results thus far this campaign but, given that Ayre won the reverse fixture 4-2 and are flying high in sixth place, the Tangerines will go into this one as favourites.

The final game taking place in the top flight this weekend is an all Saints battle at Glencrutchery Road where St George’s host rivals St Mary’s.

The sides sit next to each other in the table, with Mary’s some eight points ahead of Geordies but having played no fewer than four games more, therefore this game could go a long way to deciding which team finishes in the top three at the end of the season.

Last time out, St Mary’s drew 2-2 with DHSOB in early February, whereas St George’s haven’t played since losing to Rushen in the Railway Cup semi-finals in early December.

Geordies triumphed in the reverse fixture when a Connor Hislop hat-trick fired them to a memorable 6-1 victory at the Bowl. This one could go either way, but it will be interesting to see if St Mary’s can gain revenge for that heavy defeat.