The two title favourites come face to face for the second time this season with Bohemians attempting to reverse the defeat they suffered back in September and both sides looking to end a run of fairly indifferent form.

Each has taken eight points from their last five games, not the sort of return that will satisfy either Roddy Collins or Dermot Keely and not, on the face of it, championship winning form.

Still, the two managers may well field unchanged starting line-ups with Bohemians' only serious doubt being Dave Hill who is still suffering from bruised ribs. Shelbourne's reshuffle came after the defeat by Bray when Richie Foran, Declan Geoghegan and Mark Hutchison came in for Davy Byrne, Avery John and James Keddy respectively and the expectation is that they will all retain their places.

That means that the visitors will again start with a traditional 4-4-2 formation after having experimented with a variety of approaches over the past few months. Dessie Baker's return to form is a welcome boost for Keely at a time when his side have been struggling to score goals while John's absence underlines the fact that he has not performed as strongly since the move to Tolka as he did last season when playing with the hosts.

With all of the transfer talk regarding a couple of the Bohemians players having come to nothing, Collins will be hoping that everyone in the Bohemians camp can focus on the task of drawing level with Shelbourne at the top of the table this evening. The television cameras will be there but given Shelbourne's ability to raise their game on big nights like this, they will have their work cut out.

Last two seasons: 1999/00: Bohemians 0 Shelbourne 1, Shelbourne 1 Bohemians 0, Bohemians 1 Shelbourne 1; 00/01: Shelbourne 4 Bohemians 2.

Recent league form: Bohemians: L W W D D; Shelbourne: D D W L W.

Leading scorers: Bohemians: Crowe (13); Shelbourne: Foran (seven).

Betting: Home: 13/8, Draw: 9/4, Away: 11/8.

Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).