Former Linfield striker Curtis Allen believes the Blues remain firmly in title contention and feels January transfer activity across rival clubs could play a major role in determining the Gibson Cup’s final destination.

Last weekend, David Healy said he felt “probably only two” teams could win the Premiership this season – Coleraine and Larne – before Bannsiders boss Ruaidhri Higgins dismissed his opinion as “a load of nonsense”.

Healy’s men have won five of the last seven league titles, including last season by a mammoth 22 points, and while they sit seven points behind the top-two, Linfield have three games in hand on Coleraine and one on Larne.

Allen knows what it takes to win the Premiership, lifting the famous trophy during his time at Linfield, and while he feels his old club are still in the race, he’s interested to see how those in contention recruit next month.

placeholder image — Linfield manager David Healy. (Photo by David Maginnis/Pacemaker Press)

Linfield moved to sign Kieran Offord and Callumn Morrison last January to strengthen their bid while Larne have also enjoyed success in the mid-season window, bringing Andy Ryan to Inver Park in 2023.

"Every year people try to write Linfield off and then they put together seven or eight results in a row,” said Allen. “That's the Linfield way - when you're serial winners and done it so many times, there's an expectation.

"Do they look the prettiest or are they blowing teams away? Not really, not every week anyway.

"There'll be new faces coming in January, which has been a theme in recent years - you didn't use to see as many players being signed in January, but there's a bigger pool now. January will be interesting.

"You can never write Linfield out of it, there's no doubt about that. If you get a run of five, six, seven wins, you'll be flying and there's so little between the teams...it's great to see."

Healy and Higgins have both voiced their views on the title picture in recent weeks while the latter also claimed Linfield spent “the guts of £250-300k” last January in signing Offord and Morrison.

Ahead of this season, Allen predicted Coleraine, another of his former clubs, would be capable of winning their first Gibson Cup crown since 1974 and feels points collected during the festive period could be key.

"We're getting to that stage where if you're in and around the top three or four, you think 'we have a chance here' and teams will start to believe,” added Allen. “They won't say it in the press, but teams and managers will start to believe.

"There's a lot of money thrown around teams, signings and all the rest. I love that, a bit of going at each other, it all adds to the league and it shows how much everyone cares and wants to win.

"It's great that it's not just Linfield and Glentoran, there's other teams there fighting. I said at the start of the season I thought Coleraine could win it and they're going the right way about it.

"The Glens have went off track a bit, but if you can pick up points over the festive period when there's a lot of distractions, it can sail you into the New Year with a big chance.

"David Healy and Ruaidhri Higgins have both been around the block, they're no fools and know the pressure is there. They're standing up for their players and clubs and behind closed doors, they'll all think they're in with a chance."