Melbourne Victory host league leaders Brisbane Roar at AAMI Park to kick off round 15 of the A-League on Friday night.
The Victory enter the match after coming back from a three goal deficit to draw with the Central Coast Mariners in Geelong last week. A Besart Berisha brace as well as Archie Thompson’s first goal after his knee injury gave fans an exciting contest but still left them with plenty of questions about the Victory’s recent lack of results.
The reigning champions still only have one win to their name in their last seven games and will be desperate for a good showing against the Roar, who they have yet to play this season.
Brisbane will be looking to return to the winner’s list after a 0-0 draw with Wellington Phoenix last round. The match was shrouded in controversy with the Roar awarded a penalty only for the decision to be overturned by the referee.
It was only the second time this season that the Roar had been held scoreless and it is unlikely that many other teams will be able to keep Brisbane’s attackers at bay for the rest of the campaign.
Key Battle – Besart Berisha v Daniel Bowles
Besart Berisha has been leading from the front throughout this form slump, scoring four goals in the last four games. He has always been a threat to opposition defences and no team will understand that better than his former club in the Roar.
Daniel Bowles has had an outstanding season so far for Brisbane and will be relishing the challenge of containing Berisha and consequently keeping the Victory quiet. While the pair never played together, there is no doubt Brisbane’s defence will be looking forward to once again playing against Berisha and making sure his impact is limited.
Team News
The Olyroos’ AFC Under 23 Championship campaign affects both of these sides with Melbourne Victory missing five players and Brisbane Roar missing three.
Victory will need to replace Thomas Deng, Jason Geria – who are both a part of that Olyroos squad – as well as Daniel Georgievski, who accrued his fifth yellow card of the season in Geelong, meaning Victory’s back four will look very different to what it was last week.
The Roar will still be without young attacking duo Jamie Maclaren and Brandon Borello with Henrique and Jean Carlos Solorzano likely to retain their spots in the starting XI as the Olyroos’ replacements.
Head to Head
These sides have played 31 times with Victory winning on 14 occasions to the Roar’s 11. There have been six draws, the last of which occurred in March 2013.
The Melbourne side did not lose to the Roar once last season.
Previous Meeting
These sides last met late last season, with the Victory clinching a 1-0 win courtesy of a controversial Mark Milligan penalty.
Prediction
Friday’s match provides the Victory with the best possible chance to make a statement and signal their return to form. They need to win but more than that, they need to put in a solid, fighting performance like they did against the Mariners, which saw them come back from 3-0 down.
Brisbane will want to show the league that even without their brilliant young strikers, they still have the talent and potency to score plenty of goals. This responsibility will likely fall on the shoulders of Henrique who has scored four goals this season after returning from injury late last year.
Melbourne will want to impress their home fans and give them the win they so desperately desire but the Roar will not make the Victory’s task any easier.
This game should be open and free flowing. Both sides have enough attacking quality to ensure that there are plenty of chances with a few goals thrown in too.
Melbourne Victory 2 Brisbane Roar 2
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