The two teams have met four times already this season: the Lightning’s first league fixture of the season was against the Phoenix, Nick Poole’s team emerging with a convincing 5-2 victory, thanks to two goals each for Lukas Zatopek and Adam Carr, and one for Blaz Emersic – but since then Lightning have been unable to take any points from Phoenix.

The Phoenix suffered a lacklustre start to their season as reigning league champions, the low point indisputably being a 9-0 away shutout at the hands of Slough Jets – but that game proved to be a turning point with nine straight wins following, including two over Milton Keynes.  After going incredibly close to knocking Guildford Flames off the league top spot in the new year, the Lightning’s form has faltered in recent weeks, but Nick Poole has warned the doubters that there is still a lot of life left in the hunt for silverware.  “This season still has a long way to go – another 21 league games and at least two cup matches for us.  Our form has taken a dip recently but we’ve recovered before, and we can do it again.  The top half of the league is only separated by seven points and we have two games in hand on Sheffield and Manchester above us, so there’s still everything to play for – and we intend to fight all the way.”

Speaking about Saturday’s game against Manchester Phoenix, Nick said “We know the Phoenix are beatable, we’ve done it before and it’s about time we did it again.  They’ve come back from the bottom half of the league table to prove that they can still be title contenders - but we’ve got a point to prove too, that we’re still in the race.  Manchester dropped points in their last two matches, and Guildford lost to Telford last Sunday, which shows you how unpredictable this whole league is.  It’s way too early to be writing Lightning out of the story.”

Influential defenceman Michael Farn has missed Lightning’s last three games through injury which has stretched the team’s defence, but he is expected to return to action on Saturday, to put the team’s defence back to full strength.

Face-off against Manchester Phoenix is 7pm at the Planet Ice Arena, on Saturday 4 February. Lightning are advising supporters to either buy tickets in advance or arrive in plenty of time, as this fixture always attracts a large attendance.  The team then travels to league leaders Guildford Flames on Sunday 5 February where they are always well-represented – face off at the Spectrum Centre is at 6pm.