Fifth plays sixth as the Sky Blues welcome the traveling Newcastle Jets for Friday night’s A-League encounter.
In a week marred by off-field headlines, Sydney FC will have looked to sharpen the blade in the attacking third after 180 minutes without a goal.
Their most recent scoreless draw against a usually flamboyant Wellington Phoenix. Can the Jets spark Graham Arnold’s men into action?
Meanwhile, Scott Miller will be looking to register a win after three consecutive draws for the Newcastle-based side, even if they were entertaining.
The Jets did well to weather the early storm against the Roar last week and after going behind, grew into the match.
Ben Kantarovski was the man that would draw things level after he pounced on a loose ball in the box to grab another unlikely goal for the makeshift centreback.
The match presents itself as an opportunity for either side to jump ahead of Melbourne City and into the top four early in the round.
Key Battle – Filip Holosko vs Lee Ki-Je
It is not often that the most potent attacking threat comes from the fullback position, but many would argue that in Lee Ki-Je, the Jets have the best attacking fullback in the league.
The South Korean’s forward ventures have been a hallmark of his time at the Jets coupled with his uncanny ability to whip delectable balls into the box. Miller looks to have given the 24 year-old attacking licence, often found overlapping the likes of David Carney and Enver Alivodic ahead of him.
The impact of Filip Holosko hasn’t been so bright. Despite grabbing a couple of early goals, Holosko seems limited by Sydney’s narrow and defensive set up. The Slovakian will do well to track the mobile Lee, however it may offer an opportunity to utilise his pace and power on the break.
Team News
Despite failing to score in their last two matches, Graham Arnold seems unfazed. With this in mind, it is hard to see an avenue for many changes to the side that drew 8 days ago. That is except for the inclusion of Jacques Faty who returns from injury meaning either Rhyan Grant, Sebastian Ryall or youngster Alex Gersbach could be left out. Aside from this, Olyroo Chris Naumoff looks set to a return to the bench after centreback Zac Anderson was dropped from the matchday squad.
Sydney FC predicted XI: (4-2-3-1) Janjetovic; Ryall, Faty, Jurman, Gersbach; Dimitrijevic, Tavares; Ninkovic, Brosque, Holosko; Smeltz.
Scott Miller was hoping that Nigel Boogard could return to the squad but his inclusion is another week away. The Jets are buoyed however, by the return to fitness of striker, Milos Trifunovic. The Serbian target man has netted four times this season and will give the visitors a much needed boost. His inclusion is likely to see Braedyn Crowley move to the bench.
Newcastle Jets predicted XI: (4-3-3) Birighitti; Jackson, Kantarovski, Hoffman, Lee; Poljak, Watson, Leonardo; Carney, Trifunovic, Alivodic.
Head-to-head
It is an encounter that the Sky Blues have utterly dominated throughout A-League history. Sydney have won 20 of the sides 34 encounters with the Jets victorious on just six occassions, meaning the points have been split eight times.
Previous Meeting
A late Alex Brosque header secured all three points for the Sky Blues just six weeks ago when the two sides last locked horns at Hunters Stadium.
Prediction
It is hard to envisage Sydney snapping out of the form that has seen them labelled as the most boring team in the league without a host of changes. Even so, they remain hard to beat and the question remains as to whether the Jets have the creative rigour to break Arnold’s men down.
Sydney FC 1 Newcastle Jets 0
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