The final regular season Melbourne derby of 2015-16 is only days away and if the past two encounters are anything to go by, football fans will be treated to yet another entertaining contest.
Victory are in the middle of a month which sees them playing all their biggest rivals, who also all happen to be in the top six and also their first Asian Champions League group stage match, meaning each fixture is crucially important in their attempt to say in the top four.
The Melbourne clubs currently sit third and fourth respectively and it has been difficult to split them all season, with their previous two matches having been decided by a single goal margin.
Saturday’s game looks likely to be decided by the little victories – whichever side can win the most battles, will ultimately win the war.
Besart Berisha will be a key factor in the Victory’s chances. His move to Victoria has been a tale of infamous success, with the Albanian striker continuing his prolific goal scoring form in the one-and-a-half seasons he has been at the club.
While the form of Kevin Muscat’s side has been patchy at times throughout this campaign, Berisha has been a constant attacking threat for the men in navy and already has 14 goals to his name – the second most in the league this season.
The striker is slotting them in left, right and centre. After 18 rounds, he has already recorded more goals than he did the whole of last season, excluding the finals.
Although this is Berisha’s fifth season in the A-League, opposition defences have still not found a way to contain him and stop him finding the net. Even though the 30-year-old has only played in six derby fixtures, he loves to score against his neighbours with six goals in this fixture, including a hat-trick on his derby debut.
Berisha, as well as the whole Victory forward line, will also be aided by City’s not so watertight defence.
For all their attacking prowess, John van’t Schip’s men have conceded the second most amount of goals in the league (33) – only the Central Coast Mariners (42) have let more in. On top of that, they have only been able to record one clean sheet for the entire season, back in round 10 against the Newcastle Jets.
The coach cannot seem to find the right defensive mix as the Dutchman switches between a back three and back four formation, with injuries having also played a part in this instability.
It is no surprise that two of City’s January signings were defensive players, in the form of Osama Malik and Alex Wilkinson. While their depth has been strengthened, there is no guarantee that the team will stop leaking goals.
Victory have more than enough quality to pounce on these defensive frailties and make City pay, but perhaps the most pertinent point when debating who will win Saturday’s derby is the table.
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Melbourne City have been hyped up by many this season, and rightly so – the club is playing some of its best ever football. They are putting opposition teams to the sword and scoring for fun. The likes of Harry Novillo, Bruno Fornaroli and Aaron Mooy up forward and Thomas Sorensen between the sticks are putting on dazzling performances week in and week out.
But for all this just praise and all these brilliant results, City are only ahead of the Victory on the ladder due to goal difference.
The teams have won, drawn and lost the exact same amount of games (W8 D4 L6). While you would not use the same words to describe their respective seasons, at the end of the day the points show that ultimately there has not been much point of difference between them.
It is almost impossible to split the two sides and it is this tightness which not only makes for such an interesting contest, but means that Victory can well and truly take bragging rights.
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