Tigers start a series of three meetings in three days with the first derby meeting of the season at Armadale. It will also be Edinburgh's first competitive run out of the year but as with all derby clashes, anything can happen.

The Monarchs are captained again by Theo Pijper who will expect to score heavily riding in the number 2 position against much weaker second stringers.

It appears quite a clever move to pair him with Henrik Moller at no1, the idea being to give the assessed rider strong back up. Moller will be riding most tracks for the first time this season and is one of only two monarchs to have ridden in a competitive meeting so far this season, turning out for a Danish select at Stoke last Saturday where he scored 2(4) riding at number 4.

As a result 3 and 4 will be Matt Wethers and Will Lawson respectively. Matt did well after returning to Edinburgh at the end of last season and will be keen to start this season in the same form. He raced over in Australia during the winter where his results were a little up and down and he would no doubt be disappointed to just miss out on the final of the Australian U21 championship in his last year of riding in it. Will Lawson is the other Monarch to have ridden competitively this season, and at a higher level. He has so far ridden in three EL challenge meetings for Wolves and impressed. the experience he is gaining should be put to good use in the Premier League.

Once again Rusty Harrison will be lining up at number 5 for the Monarchs and on his day can be a formidable opponent although against Bird and Parker he will have his work cut out.

Lining up at reserve for Monarchs will be Sneddon and Stoddart. It will be interesting to see how Sneddon copes back in the PL after a long absence thanks to injury and points rules. He certainly looks as if he should be one of those capable of scoring well. Stoddart impressed at reserve when in Monarchs 1-7 at the end of 2004 but seemed to struggle a little last season resulting in a year in the CL.

As with most meetings this season, Glasgow look to be struggling in the middle order for this one. Lee has not ridden Armadale for a couple of years and it is not one of Kauko's favourite tracks. He only scored 3+1 on his last visit with Workington. However, David McAllan showed last season that he is capable of scoring well on a track he knows well and Glasgow will look to him to limit Edinburgh's advantage in this area.

Whilst Harrison will be a tough opponent, Bird and Parker should be too strong at the top for him and new boy Moller which leaves the reserve berths as possibly the key to success. Many feel Cockle and Ksiezak are the best actual pairing in the league but Sneddon and Stoddart can both be formidable opponents at Armadale. Realistically, Ksiezak could hold the key for the Tigers but the meeting promises to be a close affair.

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