Round 10 preview: Victory v Phoenix

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Melbourne Victory looks to bounce back when it hosts the Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park on Saturday.

Summary

After a hard-fought win over Perth Glory, Victory fell to a 3-1 loss to Western United in Round 9.

Andrew Nabbout scored his second league goal of the season with a brilliant strike at GMHBA Stadium before the host fought back in Geelong.

Victory is seeking a response when it welcomes Wellington to AAMI Park.

It goes into the clash on the back of a six-match unbeaten run against the Phoenix, winning two of those matches.

Victory captain Ola Toivonen has enjoyed a strong record against Wellington, scoring in each of his four clashes with the Phoenix.

Toivonen has also netted five times in nine league outings so far this season.

Wellington is on a three-match winning streak ahead of its trip to Melbourne, beating Brisbane Roar, Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers.

Player in focus

What they said

“We’re expecting a fully confident side. Obviously they beat Adelaide, they beat Wanderers and they beat Brisbane in their last three and they’re not easy games, we know that. We’re expecting them to come out, be fully confident and try and put us on the back foot, but we’re going to take that and try and flip it on them and put them on the back foot early. We’ve got the pace and the power up front to do that and we’re solid, we’ve got most of our players back now so it’s really no excuse for us, we have to go and show our quality.” – Victory attacker Nabbout.

Last time

Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 5
Melbourne Victory 1-1 Wellington Phoenix
Sunday, November 10, 2019
AAMI Park, Melbourne

Victory was forced to come from behind when the teams met last month.

Ulises Davila’s fifth-minute penalty gave Wellington the lead, but Toivonen earned Victory a point.

As it stands

Head to head

Round 5, 2019/20: Victory 1-1 Phoenix at AAMI Park
Elimination Final, 2018/19: Victory 3-1 Phoenix at AAMI Park
Round 19, 2018/19: Phoenix 1-1 Victory at Eden Park
Round 14, 2018/19: Victory 3-3 Phoenix at AAMI Park
Round 10, 2018/19: Victory 1-1 Phoenix at AAMI Park

Match details

Melbourne Victory v Wellington Phoenix
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Kick-off: 5.00pm AEDT

Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 4.James DONACHIE, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Jakob POULSEN, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 10.Robbie KRUSE, 11.Ola TOIVONEN (c), 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 19.Ben CARRIGAN, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 22.Kristijan DOBRAS, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 26.Jay BARNETT, 50.Brendan WHITE (gk)

Ins: 22.Kristijan DOBRAS (promoted), 25.Brandon LAUTON (promoted), 26.Jay BARNETT (promoted)
Outs: 13.Birkan KIRDAR (omitted)
Unavailable: 1.Matt ACTON (shoulder), 5.Tim HOOGLAND (quad), 14.Thomas DENG (groin)

Round 10 squad