Match Details:
Central Coast v Melbourne Victory
Date: Saturday 13 January
Time: 5:15pm (AEDT)
Location: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
PREVIEW
Our boys in blue travel to face the Central Coast Mariners at Allianz Stadium on Saturday with both sides out to extend their A-League Men unbeaten streaks.
Tony Popovic’s side sit atop the A-League Men’s table after having secured a hard-fought 2-3 victory over Perth Glory at HBF Park in last weeks fixture, extending their unbeaten start to the campaign to 11 matches (W6 D5 L0).
The Mariners currently occupy the fifth position, having accumulated 17 points through 11 matches after clinching a 1-0 victory in their last A-League Men’s encounter against Western Sydney, extending their unbeaten run to seven matches (W5 D2 L0).
Last time out against Central Coast ended in a 2-2 draw at Industree Group Stadium in December, with Alou Kuol and Ángel Torres scoring for the Mariners, while Bruno Fornaroli and Nishan Velupillay found the net in stunning fashion.
Speaking to the media, Popovic said he expects another tough matchup against the Mariners.
“We anticipate and expect everything that you get from the champions and obviously a team that’s building nicely in the season,” he said.
“That’s what we expect and what we want at Melbourne Victory, it gives us an opportunity to raise our game.
“We’ve been doing that thus far and tomorrow will be another big challenge for us.”
Our boys in blue are expected to get a bolster in midfield with the potential return of Jake Brimmer after he narrowly missed last week against Perth.
“He (Brimmer) had a bit of a knock that he copped when we played against Adelaide and he didn’t train the entire next week,” Tony explained.
“He trained the day before the game and we took him to Perth hoping he’d be okay and I think he was possibly fit enough to play, but we deemed it as a risk.
“But he’s trained well this week and he’s back available fully for selection.”
FROM TONY
THE STATS
SQUAD
2.Jason GERIA, 3.Adama TRAORE, 4.Rai MARCHAN, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Zinédine MACHACH, 11.Ben FOLAMI, 14.Connor CHAPMAN, 16.Stefan NIGRO, 17.Nishan VELUPILLAY, 18.Fabian MONGE, 19.Daniel ARZANI, 20.Paul IZZO, 21.Roderick MIRANDA, 22.Jake BRIMMER, 24.Eli ADAMS, 25.Ryan TEAGUE, 27.Jordi VALADON, 40.Christian SICILIANO
Ins: 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 22.Jake BRIMMER
Outs:
Unavailable: 10.Bruno FORNAROLI
