Melbourne will be desperate to bounce back here after last week’s shock 2-1 loss to Wellington in New Zealand when the Victory went down despite taking a first-half lead through Danny Allsopp’s seventh goal of the season.
Date: Saturday December 6
Kick-off: 8pm (AEDT)
Venue: Members’ Equity Stadium, Perth
TV and Radio:
Live and exclusive broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and Sky Sport 3. Hyundai A-League club radio broadcast partner is 6PR (Perth) and SEN (Melbourne) 1116AM. To purchase tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com.au
Head-to-head
All matches (played 10): Perth Glory wins 2, Melbourne Victory wins 4 (4 draws). In Perth (played 4): Perth Glory wins 2, Melbourne Victory wins 1 (1 draw)
Previous meeting
Melbourne Victory 4, Perth Glory 0, Round 7, 2008
Past five rounds
Melbourne Victory:
Round 9: Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney FC 2, Telstra Dome
Round 10: Adelaide United 2, Melbourne Victory 3, Hindmarsh Stadium.
Round 11: Queensland Roar 0, Melbourne Victory 1, Suncorp Stadium
Round 12: Melbourne Victory 2, Central Coast 1, Telstra Dome
Round 13: Wellington Phoenix 2, Melbourne Victory 1, Westpac Stadium
Perth Glory:
Round 9: Adelaide United 2, Perth Glory 1, Hindmarsh Stadium
Round 10: Perth Glory 2, Wellington Phoenix 0, Members’ Equity Stadium
Round 11: Perth Glory 2, Newcastle Jets 2, Members’ Equity Stadium
Round 12: Queensland Roar 4, Perth Glory 1, Suncorp Stadium
Round 13: Perth Glory 2, Central Coast Mariners 2, Members’ Equity Stadium
Analysis
Melbourne will be desperate to bounce back here after last week’s shock 2-1 loss to Wellington in New Zealand when the Victory went down despite taking a first-half lead through Danny Allsopp’s seventh goal of the season.
Luckily that loss – which ended a three-match winning streak – did not affect the Victory’s position at the top of the table with Melbourne still two points clear of Adelaide in top spot and some five points inside the top four with eight rounds remaining.
In contrast Perth Glory is in last place but nonetheless this is a danger game for Melbourne for two reasons.
First because the Victory is in the midst of a gruelling travel schedule with this match coming just a week after the equally long trip to Wellington, while overall it is the club’s fourth away match in the past five rounds.
And Perth, which is on the bottom mainly because of its inability to pick up a single point on the road this season, is a tough team to beat on its home turf as evidenced by the fact the Glory is unbeaten in its past five matches in Perth and overall has lost just once at home in seven matches this season.
But Melbourne, which thrashed Perth 4-0 in its only previous meeting this season at Telstra Dome, has a full squad to choose from with Evan Berger back from a hamstring injury and with Carlos Hernandez ready to have more game time after two successive second-half appearances as a substitute following his quad injury.
So with so much quality at its disposal plus a deep desire to make amends for last week’s shock loss to Wellington, expect the Victory to hit back hard here and come away with the three points although not without a few scares against a Perth side that is always tough to beat at home.
Melbourne Victory squad. 1.Michael THEOKLITOS (gk), 2.Kevin MUSCAT (Captain), 3.Michael THWAITE, 7.Matthew KEMP, 8.Grant BREBNER, 9.Danny ALLSOPP, 10.Archie THOMPSON, 11.NEY FABIANO, 12.Rodrigo VARGAS, 14.Billy CELESKI, 15.Tom PONDELJAK, 16.Carlos HERNANDEZ, 17.Jose LUIS LOPEZ, 19.Evan BERGER, 20.Mitchell LANGERAK (gk), 22.Nick WARD.
*One to be omitted.
In. Evan BERGER (return from injury).
Out. Nil.
Unavailable. Nil.
Perth Glory squad: 30.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 1.Jason PETKOVIC (gk), 2.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 3.David TARKA, 4.Jamie COYNE (c), 5.Jamie HARNWELL, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Nick RIZZO, 9.Adrian TRINIDAD, 11.Scott BULLOCH, 13.Nikita RUKAVYTSYA, 14.Eugene DADI, 16.Adriano PELLEGRINO, 17.James DOWNEY, 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI, 21.Mark LEE, 22.Wayne SRHOJ, 25.Marc ANTHONY.
* three to be omitted.
In. 1.Jason PETKOVIC (promoted), 3.David TARKA (promoted), 11.Scott BULLOCH (promoted), 19.Naum SEKULOVSKI (return from injury).
Out. 20.Frank JURIC (omitted).
Unavailable. Josip MAGDIC (ankle – season), James ROBINSON (abdomen – 4 weeks), Hayden FOXE (leg – 1 week), AMARAL (knee – 1 week).
Victory memberships for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season are currently available from the Victory Shop, 236 Swan Street, Richmond, by calling 1300 GO MVFC or online by clicking here.
