IT’S crunch time in the Digicel Premier League as the fourth and final round kicks off this afternoon with the men separated from the boys.

The 12-team league has been split into two groups following the conclusion of the third round, with the top six teams being placed in the Elite Group and the seventh to 12-placed teams placed in the Relegation Group.

Leader Harbour View (64), defending champions Tivoli Gardens (63), Waterhouse (50), Boys’ Town (45), St Georges (44) and Village United (41) will play five games among themselves to decide the DPL winner.

Seventh-placed Portmore United (38) lead Humble Lions (37), Rivoli United (37), Arnett Gardens (36), Sporting Central (35) and August Town (35) battle in a relegation dog-fight, with only three points separating the teams.

Regardless of how many points the teams in the bottom group garner in this round, they cannot be placed higher than seventh.

For example, Portmore can win all their five games and finish with 53 points, which could be more than a couple of teams earn in the Elite group, but the final point standing won’t reveal that.

With that in mind, there will be two points of interest remaining in the season — the two-team battle at the top between Harbour View and Tivoli, and the six-team relegation fight.

Harbour View start the day in pole position on 64 points and play a tough sixth-placed Village United (41) team that has beaten them twice in three outings this season.

It should be a difficult game for Harbour View, even playing at home, but they should benefit from Village’s lack of motivation being safe from relegation and out of the title race.

Second-placed Tivoli, lying just one behind the leaders, also face a difficult match against a third-placed Waterhouse outfit trying to finish as close to the top as possible.

The match-up will also pit Tivoli’s Irvino English against his old club, Waterhouse, and it will be interesting to see how that turns out.

Tivoli are unbeaten against Waterhouse and will be looking to keep it that way as they seek to return to the summit in their see-saw battle with Harbour View.

The battle between fourth and fifth-placed teams Boys’ Town and St Georges can go either way and these are the kind of games that will be of academic interest only. Nothing at stake but pride.

In contrast, the relegation fight will be of the utmost interest every week. Former champion Portmore are in the unusual position of fighting for premier league survival but seemed to have briefly overcome their poor form running unbeaten in their last five games.

They play an August Town team which is rooted to the bottom and desperately seeking a win to elevate themselves. In this closely-knitted bottom table, a win will go a far way, and August Town know that.

Another former champion, Arnett Gardens (on 36 points) are also fighting for survival, but they are used to it, having done so successfully over the last two years.

Arnett travel to Clarendon’s Sporting Central, only a point ahead, and it will be interesting to see how both teams handle the pressure, especially the younger Sporting aggregation.

Ninth-placed Rivoli United, on 37 points, will be without top marksman Devon Hodges, who is on a suspension, and should struggle against a vibrant Humble Lions aggregation oozing with confidence.

Humble Lions have defeated Rivoli twice in three outings this season and are favoured to do so again.

Top goal scorers

Devon Hodges Rivoli United 15

Navion Boyd Tivoli Gardens 12

Kevin Lamey Waterhouse 12

Troy Smith Village United 11

Keammar Daley Tivoli Gardens 9

Roland Dean Tivoli Gardens 8

Kevin Wilson Arnett Gardens 7

Marcelino Blackburn Harbour View 7

Andre Fagan Harbour View 7

George Vernal Boys Town 6

Kirk Ramsay Rivoli United 6

Jevaughn Watson Sporting Central 6

Dwayne Holmes St. Georges 6

Owen Powell Tivoli Gardens 6

Jameel Thompson Tivoli Gardens 6

Newton Sterling Arnett Gardens 5

Peter Keyes Boys Town 5

Kavin Bryan Harbour View 5

Denzil Watson Humble Lions 5

Francois Swaby Sporting Central 5

Dino Williams Village United 5