Summary
- 4 April: Rivers United v Remo Stars
- 20 April: Shooting Stars v Remo Stars
- The trio of Remo Stars, Shooting Stars and Rivers United will shape the final placing on the NPFL
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Shooting Stars and Rivers United in their Monday’s goalless outing in Ibadan failed to break the tie that binds both at the runners-up positions as the Nigeria Premier Football League approaches the home stretch.
Both are with 43 points, 11 clear points behind dashing away Remo Stars. But Rivers have a slight edge on goal difference.
The scenario now is that both have potentially explosive home games with Remo Stars, which could impact on the final placing of the three front runners – Remo Stars, Rivers United and Shooting Stars.
However, while Remo Stars are almost assured of a top-three finish in the league, as there are just 11 games to go, Rivers United and Shooting Stars are conscious that the top-three finish that guarantees a continental outing is still wide and swinging.
Only a narrow gap of three points exists between the duo and even the eighth-placed El Kanemi Warriors.
In essence, every match matters to both Rivers United and Shooting Stars. Losing a match can see any of them tumbling down to as far as the eighth position of the league.
While Remo Stars face a possible difficult away match with their age-long rivals, Bendel Insurance in Benin this weekend, Rivers will be at home to 10th placed Niger Tornadoes.
Shooting Stars will be away to Katsina United in a ‘must-win’ duel if they are to keep alive their hopes of going continental for the first time in 26 years.
For Remo Stars, the title is still not certain as they have some possible difficult matches ahead. The first of such is the confrontation with Bendel Insurance, who have been their age-long rivals since the time both teams were struggling in the lower tier, the Nigeria National League (NNL).
Other likely encounters that Remo Stars will have include those of Enyimba at home, Rivers United and Shooting Stars away from home and a dicey home game with unpredictable Heartland FC.
But they could calculate their way into glory if they take the maximum 15 points available in their remaining home matches and scrape at least three points from the obtainable 18 in their remaining six away matches.
That will push their total haul to about 70 points. No team ever obtained the 70-point mark and failed to win the league in the era of 20-team format.
LATEST RESULTS
- Shooting Stars 0-0 Rivers Utd
- El Kanemi 1-0 Lobi Stars
- Akwa Utd 1-0 Katsina Utd
- Remo Stars 1-0 Plateau Utd
- Abia Warriors 1-1 Nasarawa Utd
- Bayelsa Utd 2-1 Insurance
- Kano Pillars 2-1 Rangers
- Ikorodu City 2-0 Heartland
- Tornadoes 0-1 Enyimba
NEXT FIXTURES
- Kwara United v Kano Pillars
- Nasarawa United v Sunshine Stars
- Plateau United v Abia Warriors
- Bendel Insurance v Remo Stars
- Heartland v Bayelsa United
- Lobi Stars v Ikorodu City
- Enyimba v El Kanemi Warriors
- Rivers United Niger Tornadoes
- Katsina United v Shooting Stars
- Enugu Rangers v Akwa United
Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
