Edinburgh Monarchs v Somerset Rebels

Somerset have not had the best of luck with injuries this season having lost Pavel Ondrasik, Jaimie Smith and Paul Fry from their original line up.

However each time they were hit by injury they moved quickly to sign a replacement and each one has been a success. Glen Phillips replaced Pavel Ondrasik, Stephan Katt replaced Jaimie Smith and Emil Kramer replaced Paul Fry with the result that Somerset have turned into major championship contenders.

They were certainly shocked a couple of weeks ago when they lost at home to Mildenhall but any doubts about their form were dispelled last Friday when they hammered Glasgow by 22 points. They will surely be one of very few teams who will see off the threat of Shane Parker and Danny Bird by preventing either of them from winning a race.

The side is led by Magnus Zetterstrom one of the league's top riders and the back-up is impressive. Zetterstrom is partnered by Glen Phillips while the middle pairing consists of Stephan Katt and Emil Kramer. The third pairing is led by Glenn Cunningham who is supported by the reserves. While Simon Walker's leg trailing style is not suited to all tracks the improvement by young Ben Barker in the other reserve spot has been very impressive this year.

Somerset are one of the southern based sides who are scheduled to make only one appearance at Armadale which makes this fixture all the more attractive since it is likely to be the only chance we have of seeing their riders. So what are our chances on Friday? Well we will be without Theo Pijper and will still be using Rider Replacement for Rusty Harrison. Stanislaw Burza guests for us in place of Theo and, if he reproduces his form of last Friday night, he will score well for us. Also if Henrik Moller produces the same electric starts he too will be a heavy scorer.

But a team spearheaded by Magnus Zetterstrom is unlikely to let any of their opponents go through the card unbeaten. With the solid scoring the Rebels possess this fixture is one of the danger ones for us and we will do well to come out of it with both points. A great deal will depend on how well the Rebels middle pairing scores. Stephan Katt is an unknown quantity round Armadale but Emil Kramer has resumed his Premier League career after Hull's demise in very impressive form. If we can outscore this pairing we have a good chance of overall success. Glenn Cunningham does not pose the same threat as Zetterstrom while I expect our reserves to outscore the Rebels numbers six and seven comfortably.

There again I expected the Monarchs to beat Berwick by a much bigger margin than we did. If Berwick can hold us to ten points at home then Somerset should certainly be capable of coming here with eyes on both points. It's the same old failing every time when we underperform - not good enough starts and not enough race winners.

Perhaps the stronger opposition will bring out a much better response from the riders to give us a win but it would perhaps be asking too much to look for a win big enough to have a realistic chance of challenging for the bonus point when we visit the Oak Tree arena next Wednesday.