Perhaps a welcome break from league football as Ballymena United & Linfield face off to decide who makes it to next stage of the Irish League Cup. All the pre-match information is available here!
It’s busy days for these teams as both were in action only a few days ago. There’s no rest for the wicked, or in this case; no rest for Ballymena United and Linfield.
Ballymena United form and stats
Ballymena was eliminated in the quarter-finals last season in the Irish League Cup.The story so far in the Premiership for Ballymena United at their home stadium (The Showgrounds) is 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats.
Happy days for Ballymena in their previous game, a Premiership match away at Glenavon that ended with a 1-0 victory.
Before that game, the home loss against Larne with the scoreline 0-3.The manager D. Jeffrey will start preparations for the next game as soon this is finished, as the hosts are going to Glentoran in only four days.
The Ballymena fans would probably like to see some more goals scored at their own stadium in the league, the tally being 6 in 5 matches. Ballymena have conceded 8 from these games.
Linfield form and stats
Last season their Irish League Cup adventure ended in the semi-finals.Linfield's travelling support has been rewarded for their time and money so far this season, having witnessed Linfield collect 12 points from their 6 away matches in the Premiership. 3 victories and 3 draws have created these points (and only 0 defeats). In general it has been a productive period now for Linfield as they haven't lost any of their last 13 games.
The Linfield goalkeeper David Walsh is collecting clean sheets like a laundry worker. It's been 191 league minutes without conceding a goal, and counting.
Linfield are the visiting side once again, their previous game being the 0-0 draw at Portadown.
A home win before that, celebrating 11-0 vs PSNI.There might be some complaints about the fixture list from the Linfield manager D. Healy as the team has another away game coming up in only four days, this time against Crusaders.
The travelling fans enjoy Linfield's attacking play in away games, having scored 10 goals in 6 league matches away. The Linfield defense is a tough nut to crack, having conceded less than half a goal per away game on average (3 goals in 6 games).
Head 2 Head
Head-to-head data (for the last ten meetings): Ballymena United won two games, zero matches ended with a tie and Linfield have eight wins. Over 2,5 goals / under 2,5 goals: seven / threeTop Goalscorers
  C. Manzinga 8 goals |  M. Green 4 goals |   L. Millar 2 goals |
Ballymena United missing players
Linfield missing players
| Ballymena United | Linfield | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 10 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 14 | 5 | Won | W | 5 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 2 | Drew | D | 5 | 7 | ||
| 9 | 3 | Lost | L | 2 | 8 | ||
| 48 | 19 | Scored | S | 19 | 48 | ||
| 37 | 15 | Conceded | C | 9 | 27 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 75% | 88% | ||
| 80% | 80% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 84% | ||
| 72% | 70% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 60% | ||
| 44% | 40% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 25% | 28% | ||
| 28% | 20% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 8% | 12% | ||
| 60% | 60% | BTTS | BTTS | 42% | 40% | ||
| 28% | 20% | Clean Sheets | C S | 58% | 48% | ||
| 12% | 20% | Failed to Score | F T | 25% | 24% | ||
| 5.6 | 6.3 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.5 | 6.8 | ||
| 5.4 | 4.1 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.1 | 4.5 | ||
| 1.5 | 1.6 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.7 | 1.6 | ||
| 1 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 8 | 8.9 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8.6 | 9.8 | ||
| 3.9 | 4.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3 | 4.3 | ||
| 46% | 46% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 53% | 51% | ||
| 8.7 | 8.1 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 10.2 | 9 | ||
| 4.2 | 4.3 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.1 | 3 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Cliftonville | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 29 |
| 2 | Larne | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 24 |
| 3 | Linfield | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 16 | 23 |
| 4 | Coleraine | 12 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 23 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 14 | 22 |
| 5 | Glentoran | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 21 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 21 |
| 6 | Crusaders | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
| 7 | Carrick Rangers | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -5 | 14 |
| 8 | Ballymena United | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 11 | -8 | 13 |
| 9 | Glenavon | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 5 | -1 | 10 |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 15 | -14 | 6 |
| 11 | Portadown | 12 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 27 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -16 | 6 |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 11 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 9 | -21 | 3 |