Irish Premiership: Title race, European places and relegation still to be decided in the last four games
| Venues: Seaview, Belfast and Inver Park Dates: Friday, 12 April & Saturday, 13 April Kick-offs: 19:45 BST & 17:30 BST |
| Coverage: Watch live on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website; live text commentary, report and reaction on the BBC Sport website |
With four rounds of Irish Premiership fixtures still to play, there is plenty still at stake.
The destination of the Gibson Cup, who will be playing in the European play-offs and who will be relegated to the Championship are some of the issues still to be decided in the final month of the campaign.
BBC Sport NI takes a look at how the league is shaping up at both ends of the table.
Tight title race
And then there were two.
Larne and Linfield are the remaining sides battling it out for the Irish Premiership title after Cliftonville fell off the pace with some inconsistent results.
The Blues are one point behind leaders and current champions Larne ahead of their visit to Crusaders on Friday night.
After a 0-0 draw with Glentoran in their last game they can ill-afford another slip-up with a potential title-decider against Larne on Monday 22 April to come.
Tiernan Lynch’s side host Cliftonville on Saturday in a game that is live on the BBC iPlayer.
With Cliftonville out of the title race, Jim Magilton is set to rotate his side for the remainder of the league campaign as their attention turns to trying to end their long Irish Cup hoodoo in May’s final.
Larne will hope to bounce back from defeat against Crusaders last weekend and gain some momentum ahead of the Windsor Park showdown against the Blues, which will likely decide the destination of the Gibson Cup.
Play-off permutations
Glentoran, Crusaders and Coleraine are assured of their places in the European play-offs and will aim to finish as high in the table as possible to secure home advantage.
Fourth place could be particularly significant this term as it may secure passage straight through to the play-off final if either Glenavon or Loughgall finish seventh in the standings.
Their respective managers, Stephen McDonnell and Dean Smith, do not currently have the required coaching qualification for continental competition so as it stands, neither of those clubs can currently qualify for Europe, and therefore would be ineligible to take part in the end-of-season play-offs.
Loughgall currently sit seventh in the table, one point ahead of Carrick Rangers and two ahead of Glenavon.
Carrick must climb one place if they are to take their berth in the play-offs, otherwise it will only be the three clubs in fourth, fifth and sixth positions who will be involved in one semi-final and the final.
Relegation headache
The relegation battle has been complicated by goings on in the Championship, so only one of Ballymena United and Newry City could be going down depending on final standings in the second tier.
Newry look like they are heading for automatic relegation as they are five points adrift of Ballymena United at the foot of the table.
The Sky Blues secured a 3-2 win against Loughgall last weekend to boost their survival hopes.
Newry have picked up just four league victories all season, but must win their remaining four fixtures, starting with their game against Dungannon Swifts on Saturday, to stand any chance of staying up.
