1st position in the Premiership table for Crusaders so far, a good performance. The home supporters hope for more joy as 8th-placed Ballymena United visits Seaview.
Crusaders have less rest than Ballymena United in this fixture, as the hosts were involved in a Irish League Cup game only four days ago. Thankfully the previous game, versus Institute, was also a home game here at Seaview. The away team is better rested.
Ballymena United are still fighting for top positions and their benefits.
Crusaders form and stats
The home supporters can't complain about results here at Seaview as Crusaders, who have the most scored goals (45) in Premiership, have scored 22 goals to get 20 points from 9 games. The overall stats in the Premiership are 6-2-1 (wins-draws-losses).
Crusaders's last game was hosting Institute (placed 11th) and winning 2-0. In the preceding match a 6-1 victory visiting Dungannon Swifts.
Crusaders are believed to win this game, given a winning chance of about 70% by the bookmakers. We have checked our records for their performance in similar circumstances and found three matches and the win/draw/lost stats: W2-D1-L0.
Goals decide football matches and Crusaders are scoring many of them at home; 22 on target from 9 league matches. Crusaders have conceded 9 in these home matches.
Ballymena United form and stats
There's been little loot from Ballymena United's travels as they have only collected 8 points from 9 away games in the Premiership. Ballymena United only have 2 wins to counter their 5 defeats and 2 draws. Ballymena United are desperate to end a ten-game winless run, as they haven't won a game since the Cliftonville fixture. It's all red in the travel logs of Ballymena United, having lost four matches in a row as the visiting team.
Ballymena United play their second straight away game, having lost the previous one 1-2 to Warrenpoint Town (placed 12th). Preceding that, the 1-2 home loss versus Linfield.
We have done a similar check as we did with the hometeam, looking up recent matches where Ballymena United played away with similar odds. This revealed four games. The visitors overcame the odds to win 0 times, 1 were draw and the home team won as expected 3 times.
Ballymena United find the net in their away games, although not all the time. 12 goals from 9 away fixtures in the league. In the opposite end, Ballymena United have conceded 16 goals in their away games.
Head 2 Head
Ballymena United - Crusaders 1-1 was the story when these teams last met, earlier this season. Head-to-head totals (for the last ten meetings): Crusaders won 6 games, 2 matches ended with a draw and Ballymena United has 2 wins. Over 2,5 goals / under 2,5 goals: 8 / 2Top Goalscorers
  P. Heatley 8 goals |  J. McGonigle 7 goals |  P. Lowry 6 goals |
Crusaders missing players
Ballymena United missing players
| Crusaders | Ballymena United | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 18 | 9 | 3 | Played | P | 2 | 9 | 18 |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | Won | W | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | Drew | D | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | Lost | L | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 45 | 22 | 10 | Scored | S | 1 | 12 | 24 |
| 18 | 9 | 4 | Conceded | C | 3 | 16 | 29 |
| 94% | 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| 83% | 89% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 50% | 78% | 89% |
| 61% | 67% | 100% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 67% | 67% |
| 50% | 44% | 67% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 44% | 28% |
| 28% | 22% | 33% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 11% | 6% |
| 50% | 44% | 67% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 78% | 78% |
| 44% | 44% | 33% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 11% | 11% |
| 11% | 11% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 50% | 11% | 11% |
| 4.6 | 3.9 | 4.7 | Corners For (avg) | C F | 1.5 | 3.2 | 2.4 |
| 2.3 | 3 | 2.7 | Corners Against (avg) | C A | 5.5 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.3 | Yellow Cards (avg) | Y C | 3.5 | 2 | 1.7 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red Cards | R C | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 188 | 104 | 43 | Total Shots | T S | 15 | 75 | 130 |
| 87 | 49 | 24 | Shots on Target | S O | 4 | 29 | 49 |
| 38% | 37% | 42% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 25% | 41% | 47% |
- Ballymena United have won significantly more corners away than at home.
- Ballymena United haven’t played a single 0-0 game.
- Crusaders has the most scored goals (45)
- Crusaders has the most scored goals in the second half (30)
- Crusaders have played more matches over 2,5 goals home than away.
- Crusaders have scored at least twice as many goals as they have conceded.
- Crusaders haven’t played a single 0-0 game at home.
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Crusaders | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 45 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 22 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 23 | 9 | 27 | 38 |
| 2 | Coleraine | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 41 | 16 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 11 | 25 | 38 |
| 3 | Cliftonville | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 34 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 6 | 22 | 38 |
| 4 | Linfield | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 38 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 5 | 27 | 36 |
| 5 | Glentoran | 17 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 38 | 22 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 33 |
| 6 | Larne | 17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 31 | 17 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 8 | 14 | 24 |
| 7 | Carrick Rangers | 17 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 22 | 30 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 14 | -8 | 18 |
| 8 | Ballymena United | 18 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 24 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 16 | -5 | 17 |
| 9 | Glenavon | 16 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 22 | 43 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 32 | -21 | 17 |
| 10 | Dungannon Swifts | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 18 | 48 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 26 | -30 | 14 |
| 11 | Institute | 18 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 38 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -23 | 12 |
| 12 | Warrenpoint Town | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 13 | 57 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 24 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 33 | -44 | 9 |