Danske Bank Premiership: Linfield v Cliftonville (Windsor Park, 3pm)
Win, lose, or draw at Windsor Park today, Cliftonville will remain above champions Linfield this evening. If that's the case at the end of the season, Reds boss Paddy McLaughlin will be a happy man.
He knows such a scenario wouldn't guarantee the Gibson Cup coming back to Solitude, especially with Larne, Coleraine, Crusaders, and potentially even Glentoran involved in the most hectic title race for years.
By the time this match kicks off Larne might be back in pole position on goal difference, if they won at home to Glenavon last night.
Yet the Blues remain the benchmark for the man who has been voted the Reavey Solicitors Manager of the Month for January by the NI Football Writers' Association, his fifth such accolade.
McLaughlin makes a compelling case for Linfield being 'the team to beat', explaining: "Linfield have been top dogs for a number of years, for a reason – they've been the best side. That's something we've taken on really well this season. We beat them at our place, first time in a couple of years in a league game.
"We've definitely narrowed the gap on them, but they're still the team to beat, there's no doubt about that.
"Come the end of the season, I believe that anybody who finishes above Linfield will win the League… They're a serious team, serious squad of players, and they've won the league the last four years because they've been fantastic over that period of time."
And those comments were made before the news broke on Wednesday afternoon that Linfield have signed Northern Ireland international striker Kyle Lafferty until the end of the season.
With fellow forward Eetu Vertainen having banged in 15 goals this season and with the option of Robbie McDaid, the Blues clearly pose a potent threat – top scorers in the division, with 53 compared to the Reds' tally of 50.
Yet at the time of writing, Cliftonville were the league leaders, four points ahead of Linfield, so McLaughlin accepts the Reds are getting noticed:
"We've done our usual thing, float beneath the radar. The full-time sides are always the obvious ones to consider as title contenders, and rightly so. We don't mind that, but we can't do that now – we're sitting at the top.
"The boys have been superb, against all odds and against expectations, they've been a credit to themselves and the club. I only pick this up because the players are doing the business on the pitch; I collect this on their behalf.
"Hopefully we can keep doing it until the end of the season – and you never know where we can be come May."
Although he again alludes to the "full-time sides" of Linfield, Larne, Crusaders, and Glentoran, McLaughlin isn't 'putting on the poor mouth' regarding the quality of players at Solitude:
"You can't deny we are a good side – anybody that leads the Premiership they're a good side and they've done brilliantly well, because you look at the sides in among us.
"But anybody talking about league titles, I think it's a bit early for that; we've only reached the halfway stage in the season. Same as last year, we're just glad to still be in contention. That's as far as we'll talk about leagues."
The Derryman has instigated training three nights a week, now on Mondays as well as the traditional Tuesdays and Thursdays.
He laughs when asked if there was pushback from anyone at Cliftonville about that: "Aye, there was 22 players resisted it at the start. It's a change, a shock to their culture… Nobody likes being pushed to the limit, myself included.
"But if it's what's required to be competing at the top end, well, then that's the call. If anybody didn't buy into it, they weren't there."
Many said that Cliftonville over-achieved in pushing Linfield all the way last year, but McLaughlin isn't so sure: "You always expected them, Larne, Crusaders, and Glentoran to be challenging to win the league. But look at the squad of players we have assembled over the last couple of years and you could sort of see it coming together.
"It didn't surprise me that we were doing so well, definitely not. I see these boys training three nights a week, see them playing on a Saturday. I know how good they are, how good they can be.
"I also know how good the other sides are and how good they can be – and we're not too far away from them.
"It was no shock to me that we were in the mix right until the last game of the season."
The challenge this year was then different: 'Can we do it again? Can we show that consistency?' To be fair to the players, they have and I'm delighted with that."
Of course, that has altered the dynamic around Solitude, especially going top of the Premiership, McLaughlin acknowledges:
"Sometimes you like to be the hunter, rather than the hunted. That can change in a game – Larne have a game in hand [at home to Glenavon last night] and if they win they go back top and they become the 'hunted'.
"We're not really looking at positions. We have seven matches, five of them against the [rest of the] top six, then we get to the split. Only then will you hear anyone, maybe us, making noises about challenging to win leagues.
"So much can happen, good or bad, between now and the split, never mind the end of the season."
