It is the 19th league games of the season, with only three more games to go. Prior to today's league games, several things has happened in the past few days, most notably the experienced coach M. Karathu who was 'rested' by Perak after four straight defeats that saw the Bos Gaurus gone from third in the league to the lowly 8th. Bear in mind, despite Perak sudden slump, there is only four-point difference to the current third-placed, PDRM. This is also the second managerial changes from Perak after an odd departure of Vjeran Simunic before the league even started. M. Karathu joined the long list of the MSL head coaches who was either rested or sacked midway through the league campaign. This means the assistant coach Abu Bakar Fadzim will take charge of the first-team until the end of the season, just like last season.
Only five matches will be played today since both PDRM and Felda already played yesterday, probably due to the fact that PDRM and Selangor currently shared Shah Alam Stadium and somehow they happened to have home game on the same day so one of them have to give up and play on different day. Nonetheless, PDRM won by a narrow 1-0 win scored by the league top goalscorer Dramane Traore.
There are two highly-anticipated games today, the meeting of two East Coast side which widely called as the East Coast derby and another one is the Causeway derby, this if you want to consider it a valid derby.
Kelantan who recently defeated at home by another East Coast side, the in-form Terengganu, today will meet the wounded Pahang who was defeated by LionsXII, thus losing their place at the top of the table to the fellow title rival JDT after 12 unbeaten run. Despite that, there is only one-point gap at the top of the table and they still have a chance to return to the top today. Kelantan will not be travelling to Kuantan with several key players including Gilmar, Fakri, Nik Shahrul Azim, Zairul Fitree due to injury and Amiridzwan Taj due to suspension. Pahang will be playing without the services of Azidan and Azam Azih due to injury. The verdict: Pahang win, Kelantan may have an outside chance if Carrillo doesn't messed it up.
To the Causeway, high-spirited LionsXII travel to Larkin seeking for a point after encouraging performance against league leaders Pahang. It would be a difficult encounter since the Southern Tigers are invincible at home and incredibly, they have yet to lose a single home game this season. This probably one of the reason why they are currently top of the table. Despite struggling to score against the relegation-threatened ATM, many would expect JDT to deliver a strong performance this time because if not Pahang might return to the top once again. Ugly win or not, it is a must-win game.
The verdict: JDT win
Other matches that are less worth to mention includes Selangor who once at certain point are top of the league until they were beaten by JDT and Pahang, now fourth placed and have 11-point gap with the league leaders JDT. Today should be an easy win for them..that will happen if they take it seriously against ATM, who have installed four different head coach yet unable to improve and remained at the bottom together with Sime Darby.
Meanwhile the depleted Perak side travel away against the in-form Terengganu. It is a quite ironic clash, judging from how Perak have lost four times in a row while Terengganu are on the roll, winning five consecutive matches. With Issey Nakajima Farran and Bikana currently on form, it will be a very difficult game for Perak. However, things might get a little bit different with Abu Bakar in charge.
The last one is the relegation battle between Sime Darby and Sarawak, even though the relegation for Sime Darby seems imminent. This game are rather an important one for Sarawak, with only four points from safety. Most likely a draw or a win for Sarawak.
MSL Tonight
Pahang v Kelantan
JDT v LionsXII
Terengganu v Perak
Selangor v ATM
Sime Darby v Sarawak