Melbourne City look to bounce back from their shock loss to Wellington when they host a Sydney outfit buoyed by their win against Chinese giants Guangzhou Evergrande.
Can the ACL win inspire confidence?
The year 2016 hasn’t been a happy one for the Sky Blues thus far. Sydney’s form has plummeted recently, seeing the side go an unenviable six games without a win in the league. However, heading into Saturday’s clash Graham Arnold will feel his side’s luck may have changed. Despite facing their fifth game in 15 days, the Sky Blues enter the match off the back of an incredible win over a star-studded Guangzhou Evergrande in the AFC Champions League. After defeating a team of undeniably high quality, will the win give Sydney the belief to reignite their finals claim?
City’s inconsistency is costing them dearly
City are exciting and frustrating in equal measure. If their form line is anything to go by, then a win against Sydney is on the cards. Their season has become a continual yo-yo campaign, with City securing wins against the top sides and suffering defeats to the lesser likes. As soon as expectation is placed on the club, and a potential Premiers Plate tilt, they have crumbled. The over reliance on their key attacking weapons is hurting them when the second-tier players cannot fill the void. If City are serious about challenging at the latter stage of the season then they must beat Sydney and build upon it and string positive results together.
Is another draw on the cards?
Both teams enter the match in erratic form. City are favourites at home and will be looking to stretch their unbeaten run at AAMI Park to eight games – a club record if they can achieve this feat. In the past five encounters against the two sides, there’s been three draws. Are we potentially looking at another stalemate? A point for Sydney would represent a decent result and considering the energy levels may be sapped a little from their midweek clash, it’s expected that Arnold will set his team up to frustrate a City team who like to play expansive football.
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