The headline makers of round 23 meet at AAMI Park in a contest that will go some way to revealing who the A-League’s top-dog really is.
Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar owned last Friday and Saturday night respectively.
Brisbane humiliated Melbourne Victory and won by five clear goals, while Melbourne City did what no one else seemingly could and ended Adelaide United’s long unbeaten run behind enemy lines.
Key Battle – Patrick Kisnorbo/Alex Wilkinson vs Jamie Maclaren
Will the young upstart showcase his predatory instinct? This is the task facing City’s highly experienced central defensive duo, and it was a bridge too far for Matthieu Delpierre and Thomas Deng in Saturday night’s 5-0 romp.
CrownBet match odds at time of publishing
Maclaren, who took his season’s tally to 17 goals over the weekend, will use clever and deceptive movement to try his luck against both centre halves in an attempt to stretch the City defence.
However, the essential weapons in a striker’s arsenal are not always confined to skill. A bit of luck never goes astray, and tends to fall the way of marksmen in top form. Unexplainable, although it happens regularly enough to feel it is not a figment of the imagination. Perhaps it is something conjured by a footballer whose confidence is high. Jamie Maclaren’s opening strike against the besieged Victory was case in point of this phenomena, thanks to a kind deflection falling into his path. While luck was on the striker’s side in that instance, J-Mac utilised his class to seal his hat-trick.
While Patrick Kisnorbo and Alex Wilkinson look to be building a solid partnership, helped by Osama Malik’s presence in a defensive midfield role, the need to win this battle is crucial and could decide the contest.
Team News
For City, Anthony Caceres will return to the squad following a calf injury along with Marc Marino and Connor Chapman. Wade Dekker will miss the rest of the season due to ankle ligament damage sustained during the win in Adelaide last week.
John Aloisi has included new recruit Tommy Oar and 20-year-old Devante Clut in the extended squad for this contest. In the case of Oar, his presence on the left-wing could help to bring new energy, while allowing Thomas Broich the freedom to drift increasingly central if given a starting berth.
Head-to-head
The ledger is squared at seven wins apiece with three draws in 17 previous encounters. Brisbane’s biggest win came against the now re-branded Melbourne Heart, winning 4-0 in what was the first encounter between the two franchises.
Brisbane’s only win when facing Heart/City in Melbourne came on the 11th of November, 2010, in which Gerald Sibon opened the scoring for John van’t Schip’s side before second-half goals to Kosta Barbarouses and Jean-Carlos Solorzano.
With this fixture averaging 2.82 goals per game, only the bravest of punters would not bet on this improving considering the goalscoring threat both sides bring into Friday’s clash.
Previous Meeting
Patrick Kisnorbo’s own goal on 31 minutes set the tone for City, slumping to a 3-1 defeat to Brisbane on the 27th of December at Suncorp Stadium.
Brandon Borello gave the hosts a two-goal cushion before Bruno Fornaroli reduced the deficit shortly after halftime. Hopes of a late equaliser were dashed by Henrique in the fourth minute of added time to seal the win.
Prediction
City’s midfield mix finally looks settled. Osama Malik’s improvement has come when playing behind Mooy, who is given less defensive responsibility with a view to flourish in attacking positions. Furthermore, Harry Novillo will continue to compliment the skill-set of Bruno Fornaroli and should cause Brisbane’s defence too many problems.
Maclaren is undoubtedly Brisbane’s danger-man, but his powers are going to come under far more scrutiny here than in previous rounds.
Melbourne City 2 Brisbane Roar 1
*CrownBet odds at time of publishing and subject to change
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