Melbourne Victory’s Isuzu UTE A-League side will be looking to continue their late season revival on Sunday afternoon as they face Perth Glory at AAMI Park.
Much like Easter Sunday in the biblical sense, Tony Popovic’s side will look to resurrect their finals hopes against a fellow contender in the log-jam of teams that are looking to secure the sixth and final A-League Finals spot.
At the start of the round, Victory sits four points off Sydney FC – who currently hold onto sixth position – and will be looking to leapfrog this week’s opponents into 7th position with a superior goal difference.
Victory’s last result was a 2-1 loss in the resumption of December’s Melbourne Derby but the slight blip does not truly reflect Victory’s form heading into the contest.
Before Wednesday night’s revised fixture, Victory defeated third and fifth placed Central Coast and Wellington Phoenix, with the win against the Nix being Victory’s first in New Zealand since 2017. Taking into account that Wednesday night’s 70 minutes ended as a 1-1 draw, Victory will be full of confidence heading into the clash with the Glory, matching it with three of the top six sides in the last two weeks.
The West Australians are also unbeaten in their last three matches but more importantly, have not won away from home since their only away win of the season in October against the Mariners. In fact, the Glory have won only one of their last 20 A-League fixtures outside of their home state, conceding 2.4 goals per game in that period.
Despite their travelling record, the Glory are still in the Finals mix and have it all to play for on Sunday, coming off a 2-1 win over Macarthur last week. It was Mark Beevers and Adam Taggart finding the back of the net in the contest and Victory will be familiar with the latter as he found the back of the net twice in the last matchup between the two sides at Macedonia Park in January.
It was a very different defence that had to guard Taggart on that day and Victory will be looking to convert their recent form into a result. With Bruno Fornaroli leading Victory’s goalscoring ledger this season and the continued improvement of Fernando Romero since signing for the Club in January, the duo will be looking to make their mark at AAMI Park, with three of the remaining four matches at home starting this Sunday.
Melbourne Victory squad
1.Matt ACTON, 2.Jason GERIA, 3.Enrique LOPEZ, 4.Rai MARCHAN, 5.Damien DA SILVA, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 8.Josh BRILLANTE, 10.Bruno FORNAROLI, 11.Ben FOLAMI, 14.Connor CHAMPMAN, 16.Stefan NIGRO, 18. Bruce KAMAU, 19.Fernando ROMERO, 20.Paul IZZO, 21.Roderick MIRANDA, 23.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 24.Nishan VELUPILLAY, 26.Lleyton BROOKS, 28.Will WILSON, 29.Eli ADAMS
In: 28.Will WILSON (promoted), 29.Eli ADAMS (promoted)
Out: nil
Unavailable: 17.Luis NANI (injured), 22.Jake BRIMMER (injured), 31.Matt BOZINOVSKI (injured)
Match Details
Isuzu UTE A-League – Round 23
Melbourne Victory v Perth Glory
Sunday 9 April
Kick-off: 3.00pm (AEST)
AAMI Park, Melbourne
