Melbourne Victory is eyeing back-to-back Hyundai A-League wins when it visits Western United on Sunday.
Summary
Victory recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win over Perth Glory last time out thanks to a goal from Robbie Kruse.
Kruse, 31, scored his first goal since returning to Victory and produced a brilliant performance in Leigh Broxham’s 300th Hyundai A-League outing for the club.
The attacker was making his first start of the season and now has a goal and an assist in just 149 minutes of action this campaign.
Andrew Nabbout provided the assist for Kruse as the attacker got another 90 minutes under his belt following a hamstring injury earlier in the season.
The result saw Victory end a four-match winless run ahead of a trip to GMHBA Stadium.
Victory goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas kept his 26th Hyundai A-League clean sheet, moving him to within one of tying Michael Theo for most for the club.
Western United is on a three-match losing run and sits fifth on the table, two points ahead of Victory.
Player in focus
What they said
“We don’t want to lose. We need a win, a big win, it will definitely boost our confidence going into the middle of the season and we can keep pushing into the top six and higher before finals.” – Victory’s Anthony Lesiotis.
Last time
Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 4
Melbourne Victory 2-3 Western United
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne
Victory made a fast start as Ola Toivonen and Kristijan Dobras scored in the opening seven minutes.
However, goals from Alessandro Diamanti, Besart Berisha and Scott McDonald saw Western United to a come-from-behind win.
As it stands
Head to head
Round 4, 2019/20: Victory 2-3 Western United at Marvel Stadium
Match details
Western United v Melbourne Victory
GMHBA Stadium, Geelong
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Kick-off: 4.00pm 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), 13.Birkan KIRDAR (promoted), 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, 50.Brendan WHITE (gk)
Ins: 2.Storm ROUX (promoted), 13.Birkan KIRDAR (promoted), 22.Kristijan DOBRAS (promoted), 25.Brandon LAUTON (promoted)
Outs: nil.
Unavailable: 1.Matt ACTON (shoulder), 5.Tim HOOGLAND (quad), 14.Thomas DENG (groin)
