PREVIEW: SHEFFIELD v BELLE VUE (Prem)

SHEFFIELD host Belle Vue in a clash of the top two teams in the early Premiership table at Owlerton tonight (Thursday).

The Tigers had the better of the Roses clashes in the League Cup earlier in the season, but the Aces made an impressive start to league competition before losing at King’s Lynn last week.

Matej Zagar is back from injury for the Manchester side, who continue to operate rider replacement for broken collarbone victim Jye Etheridge.

Sheffield skipper Kyle Howarth said: “We’ve already beaten Belle Vue a couple of times this year but even with the team they had then, we still thought they’d be a bit stronger than they were.

“They’ve brought Zagar in and they’ve definitely picked up, haven’t they? So we know it’s going to be tough but as we always say, as long as we ride how we know we can and as long as everyone does their jobs, then we know we can beat them again.”

Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “It’s fantastic news for us to have Matej back for this fixture. It does bulk up our strength, and you feel things will be much closer for us than they were last time we were there.

“Obviously we are still compensating for Jye’s injury absence, but the boys have already proved they can cover the No.2 rides very well and produce great results.

“Sheffield will be confident, I’m sure, especially on home shale. They’ve had a brilliant first few weeks of the season so we will need to give it everything we’ve got.”

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Craig Cook, Tobiasz Musielak, Kyle Howarth, Adam Ellis, Stefan Nielsen, Connor Mountain.
BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Jye Etheridge R/R, Matej Zagar, Charles Wright, Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Tom Brennan.