Match Details:
Melbourne City v Melbourne Victory
Date: Saturday 23 December
Time: Kick-off: 7:45pm (AEDT)
Location: AAMI Park, Melbourne
PREVIEW
Melbourne Victory ended last Saturday night on top of the A-League Men’s ladder thanks to a comprehensive 3-0 win against Sydney FC at AAMI Park.
Tony Popovic’s team showed their intent from the first whistle, quickly establishing a foothold in the contest.
Victory’s strong start was rewarded when they took the lead in the 20th minute thanks to a clinical finish from Daniel Arzani.
Just minutes later, the hosts had doubled their lead as Zinédine Machach executed a superb chip finish over the goalkeeper having been played in behind the Sydney defence by Jake Brimmer.
The inevitable finally occurred in the 57th minute, as Bruno Fornaroli added his name to the scoresheet.
A twelfth goal of the season for Fornaroli which all but secured the three points for Victory on the night.
Now sitting second on the A-League Men’s table, while remaining undefeated, Victory will look to continue their stellar run of form when they come up against Melbourne City for the Christmas Derby.
City sit seventh on the A-League Men’s table after a rough start to the season, currently having conceded the equal second-most goals of any team in the A-League and now coming up against the top-scoring Victory.
Recent history is not on Tony Popovic’s side as Melbourne City have won two of their last three A-League Men games against Victory (L1), including a 2-1 win in their most recent encounter; however, City had not won any of their four previous games against the boys in blue (D3 L1).
However, an undefeated Victory and a golden boot leading Bruno will look to turn around any recent history against the Premiers.
FROM TONY
FROM BRUNO
FROM DANIEL
LAST TIME
Melbourne City 2-1 Melbourne Victory
April 5, 2023
AAMI Park, Melbourne
HEAD TO HEAD
2022/23 (Feb 18): Melbourne Victory 3-2 Melbourne City
2022/23 (Oct 22) Melbourne Victory 0-2 Melbourne City
2021/22 (Apr 9) Melbourne Victory 3-0 Melbourne City
SQUAD
2.Jason GERIA, 3.Adama TRAORE, 4.Rai MARCHAN, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Zinedine MACHACH, 10.Bruno FORNAROLI, 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, 40.Christian SICILIANO
In’s: 4.Rai MARCHAN, 17.Nishan VELUPILLAY
Out’s: nil
