Coming off the back of three consecutive wins, an in form Melbourne City team travels to Pirtek Stadium to face Western Sydney Wanderers this Friday night.
City are looking to tighten their stranglehold over sixth place after defeating fellow finals contenders and A-League champions Brisbane Roar, all but ending the Roar’s title defence.
Oddly enough, the Wanderers were the last team to take points off the Melburnians just three weeks ago in a five-goal thriller at Friday’s venue, a result that saw Western Sydney claim its first and only victory of the season at Wanderland. The win came from a late Nikita Rukavytsya strike after City defender Connor Chapman was given a straight red card for handling the match referee.
Amongst a busy schedule due to their Asian Champions League title defence, the Wanderers have shown that they can still be a prominent force despite their lowly position on the table. After smashing the Roar 4-1 at Suncorp Stadium and almost taking a point from Perth Glory after a 3-2 defeat, Tony Popovic’s men will be full of confidence when they welcome Melbourne City.
City on the other hand are looking to seal their place in this season’s A-League finals series, something they have failed to do since 2012. After holding onto a 1-0 victory in a scrappy affair with the Roar last Saturday, John van’t Schip’s team has given itself an eight point buffer running into the end of the home and away fixture.
Despite the sizeable gap, van’t Schip was quick to reject suggestions that the finals race is over.
“First we have to make sure we get into the playoffs,” van’t Schip told Melbourne City’s official website.
“That’s not sure at all. We have four tough games ahead of us. Until the end we have to be really prepared.”
While keeping a lid on City’s recent run of good form, van’t Schip remains optimistic that his side could even push for a higher placing.
“Everybody knows it was very important, a six-pointer. Now there’s a gap and we have to make sure that we continue gaining points and make it difficult for Brisbane to catch us. And maybe you can even look a little more up (the table).”
City have never taken three points away from Pirtek Stadium. The only win in their history against the Wanderers came this season at home in a 2-1 triumph.
Melbourne City are expected to welcome back A-League Player of the Year contender Aaron Mooy after Socceroos duty against Germany and Macedonia, both games ending in draws.
Fox Sports presenter Mark Bosnich praised the City attacker’s creative enthusiasm in both matches. Bosnich told Fox Sports that Mooy was “not out of his depth” after being handed a rare start by Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou in their 0-0 draw with Macedonia.
Postecoglou said that Mooy’s strong performance was a positive drawn from a lacklustre result.
“I thought we started off OK but we got a bit frustrated cause we didn’t create a lot of chances and started forcing things,” Postecoglou told The Sydney Morning Herald after a “challenging night”.
“There’s a lot we can take out of tonight, oppositions are going to be desperate like they (Macedonia) were.”
City will be hoping that Mooy can slot back into the starting XI comfortably while recapturing the stellar form that has helped the Melbourne side elevate itself into finals contention.
Western Sydney is playing for nought but pride regarding this season’s domestic competition. The champions of Asia will be holding their Asian Champions League campaign as the highest of priorities ahead of welcoming South Korean giants FC Seoul to Parramatta in approximately a week’s time.
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Head coach Popovic said that the prospect of a positive end to the Wanderers’ A-League endeavours is all but gone due to a crippling injury list.
“We’ll do the best we can but at the moment we have no choice,” Popovic told The Sydney Morning Herald regarding his list management.
“We have one or two young boys sitting at home who are fit. Apart from that, no one is fit.”
Popovic has made it clear that his side’s busy schedule is to blame for a disappointing domestic season.
“Everyone gets injuries. We know why they’ve come and we’ve got to take responsibility in certain things that we can do better. A lot of it was taken out of our hands.”
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