It’s game week four of the Liga Premier and Sarawak FA entertain Sabah FA, in what is dubbed as ‘The Borneo derby’.

Sabah come into the game fresh from winning against Terengganu FC II, and Sarawak FA are still licking their wounds after a last minute goal denied them any points against Selangor United FC.

Here’s our brief preview of the match.

PAST MEETINGS

Both teams had met 15 times with Sarawak having won six of the matches. Sabah won five.  The rest were boring draws.

Both teams are also very strong at home with Sarawak winning five of the six winning results at home.

Statistics show that Sarawak are very good at home when entertaining Sabah.

POSSIBLE LINE-UP FOR SARAWAK FA

Abdul Rahim will sit out of this game, and Benedict Martin is also likely to sit out as well as he is highly doubtful

Anai Igang will likely make slight changes to accommodate the absence of Benedict in defense, but I expect him to stick to the line-up against Selangor United.

That said, Bobby Gonzales, Hudson Dias, Rian Firmansyah, Pedro Henrique, Shreen Tambi, Nur Shamie Iszuan, Billy Gibson, Muamer Salibasic and Awang Kamaruddin will likely start.

Anai may be tempted however to switch his goalkeeper which has not been so confident between the post so far.

PLAYER TO WATCH

How Bobby Gonzales would react against Sabah would be interesting to watch.  The Sabahan will be up against his home state and he is expected to score if Sabah doesn’t mark him enough.

SABAH PLAYERS TO WATCH

Luka Milunovic is currently the joined-top scorer for the Liga Premier and he would be someone Sarawak would want to mark closely.

OUR VERDICT

History does give Sarawak the absolute advantage over Sabah and I think it is set to repeat itself. I can’t see beyond Sarawak winning this.

//Be among the first to own the SarawakCrocs Tribal Jersey by pre-ordering yours at www.TheKedey.com. Buying the jersey means you are supporting us to bring Sarawak football news to you. #WearTheTribe