Round 12 preview: Adelaide v Victory

Thumbnail

Melbourne Victory looks to extend its unbeaten run in the Hyundai A-League to 10 games when it visits rival Adelaide United on Wednesday.

Summary

Victory returned to winning ways and continued its unbeaten streak by overcoming the Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 in Round 11.

Ola Toivonen scored a brace as the star Swedish striker was set up by James Troisi on two occasions at ANZ Stadium.

Victory makes the trip to Coopers Stadium looking to go unbeaten in 10 straight league games for the first time since late 2014.

Toivonen moved onto a team-high seven goals this season with his double against the Wanderers.

The 32-year-old also maintained his record of having scored or assisted in each of his eight Hyundai A-League games.

Troisi joined Terry Antonis on four assists this season for Victory, which had Georg Niedermeier and Raul Baena come off the bench in returns from injury. Unfortunately, Niedermeier is set to be sidelined again due to a calf injury.

However, it also needed a fine performance from goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas to claim three points against the Wanderers.

Victory enters Round 12 in second on the table, sitting three points behind Perth Glory.

It is playing a Hyundai A-League game at Coopers Stadium for the first time since January 2017.

Adelaide is unbeaten in three games and in fifth on the table heading into Round 12.

Player in focus

What they said

“I can’t wait. It’s obviously the game you look forward to most. I’ve heard Victory are bringing a lot of fans across so it’s important we’ve good numbers and good support for ourselves as well. We’ll be ready and are looking forward to the game.” – Adelaide attacker Ryan Kitto.

“Great to see Georg back after the foot injury and Raul as well, so it’s a very good environment to be around at the moment, especially when you’re winning. The positive is there’s a lot of areas we can look to improve and better our game for Wednesday night in Adelaide.” – Victory goalkeeper Thomas.

Last time

Hyundai A-League 2018/19 Round 7
Melbourne Victory 2-0 Adelaide United
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne

Victory needed until the final half-hour to get past the Reds last month.

Kosta Barbarouses and Toivonen were on the scoresheet, the latter after a classy one-two with Antonis, in the win in Melbourne.

As it stands

Head to head

Round 7, 2018/19: Victory 2-0 Adelaide at Marvel Stadium
Elimination Final, 2017/18: Victory 2-1 Adelaide at AAMI Park
Round 21, 2017/18: Victory 3-0 Adelaide at AAMI Park
Round 10, 2017/18: Victory 1-2 Adelaide at Marvel Stadium
Round 3, 2017/18: Adelaide 2-2 Victory at Adelaide Oval

Match details

Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Kick-off: 7.50pm AEDT

Melbourne Victory squad: 1. Matt ACTON (GK), 2. Storm ROUX, 3. Corey BROWN, 6. Leigh BROXHAM, 7. Kenny ATHIU, 8. Terry ANTONIS, 9. Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10. James TROISI, 11. Ola TOIVONEN, 13. Birkan KIRDAR, 14. Tommy DENG, 15. Raul BAENA, 16. Josh HOPE, 19. Rahmat AKBARI, 20. Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21. Carl VALERI (C), 24. Elvis KAMSOBA, 25. Anthony LESIOTIS
**Two to be omitted**

Ins: 24. Elvis KAMSOBA (promoted), 25. Anthony LESIOTIS (promoted)
Outs: 5. Georg NIEDERMEIER (inj.)
Unavailable: Jai INGHAM (quad – TBC), Keisuke HONDA (Hamstring – 4 weeks), Nick ANSELL (Hamstring – TBC), Georg NIEDERMEIER (Calf – TBC)