How can I watch Larne vs Linfield? All you need to know ahead of the crunch Irish League clash
Larne welcome current Premiership leaders Linfield to Inver Park on Saturday evening in what’s undoubtedly the Irish League’s most anticipated clash of the weekend.
Victory for David Healy’s Blues, who have opened up a five-point advantage at the summit over Cliftonville, could go a long way to further underlining their Gibson Cup ambitions.
Larne are coming off consecutive league wins over Glentoran and Coleraine as they look to gain momentum in search of their third straight Premiership triumph.
From how to watch the match to what’s at stake, here’s everything you need to know ahead of kick-off.
HOW CAN I WATCH?
Larne vs Linfield will be broadcast live on the BBC iPlayer with kick-off at 5:30pm.
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Having opened up their advantage at the top, Linfield are favoured heading into this one (13/10) while the reigning champions are priced at (7/4). The draw is available at 21/10.
ANY TEAM NEWS?
Larne are still set to be without Leroy Millar and Tomas Cosgrove but top goalscorer Andy Ryan is expected to make his return from injury after missing last weekend’s win over Coleraine.
For Linfield, Matthew Orr is on Northern Ireland U19 duty for their trio of UEFA Euro U19 qualifiers while David Healy confirmed that Kyle McClean and Euan East are long-term absentees.
The likes of Sam Roscoe, Ben Hall, Chris McKee, Stephen Fallon and Robbie McDaid haven’t featured in recent weeks during what has been an injury-ravaged campaign for the Blues.
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
As Larne first team coach Gary Haveron said after Wednesday’s Co Antrim Shield win over Crusaders, it’s probably too early for this result to have any bearing on the overall Premiership title race picture, but it’s still an important game.
Just like last season – and almost a year ago to the day – Larne could close the gap on Linfield to eight points while a win for the Windsor Park outfit would open the difference to a whopping 14 points.
With Larne’s involvement in the UEFA Conference League, they’ve played three games fewer than their rivals but won’t want to leave themselves with a mountain to climb.
It would be a statement win for Healy’s men if they can manage it – they’ve won only one of their last nine league games at Inver Park since Larne returned to the top-flight in 2019.
WHAT HAVE THEY SAID?
Larne first team coach Gary Haveron: "I think it's a wee bit early for that (to matter for the title picture) because we are so few games in. I remember one time going to Windsor and if we'd lost that game we'd have been 11 points behind and we'd played the same amount of games.
"With the games in hand it's hard to tell and we have to chalk off one at a time. We have to focus and put every effort into the next performance and the next team, which is Linfield, so our full attention will be on that game.
"We'll not look beyond that. We go out to win every single match we play in and that doesn't change ahead of Saturday."
Linfield manager David Healy: "Winning games is not easy – I don’t think it’s ever been easy, but it’s certainly not easy at the minute.
“It seems as you get one or two players back and then Euan, Kyle McClean missed Saturday and will probably miss the next five or six weeks.
"Euan got injured in training this week and he’s probably going to miss I’d imagine potentially three or four weeks which is desperate news.
"Terry Hayes has been at the club 40+ years as a player, staff and head of medical, and he hasn’t seen it as bad.
"We’re hoping over the next three or four weeks that we start getting people like (Stephen) Fallon, Ben Hall, Robbie McDaid, Sam Roscoe back, but the ones we picked up this week...Kyle McClean will certainly be five or six weeks and Euan East could be anything in and around the same.”