Expert
Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers meet for the third time this A-League season in a rare Tuesday night football matchup. Join us for live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT.
Tonight these two sides play a rescheduled Round 19 fixture because of the Wanderers’ Asian Champions League commitments, having met a little over a fortnight ago at the same venue.
On that occasion Gui Finkler cancelled out Brendan Santalab’s second-half strike with a glorious free kick in the 94th minute to force a 1-1 draw.
Unfortunately, the headlines following the draw had nothing to do with the on-field action, after rival sets of fans clashed outside the venue and around Melbourne’s CBD in the leadup to the game.
The media coverage in the aftermath was severe, and a result an increased police presence should ensure no repeat tonight.
For the visiting Western Sydney, three points would bring them to within one point of Brisbane Roar, who stalled after a 2-1 loss at home to Adelaide on Saturday evening.
But despite their 1-0 win in the Sydney derby, also on Saturday night, Tony Popovic’s men could potentially head to Melbourne distracted with a number of key players reportedly on their way out at the end of the season.
News last night inidicated the Shinji Ono could be on his way to J.League outfit Consadole Sapporo, while Youssouf Hersi and Aaron Mooy might also be playing their last season at Wanderland.
Both Ono and Hersi will start from the bench – as will target man Tomi Juric – while first-team regulars Iacopo La Rocca, Mateo Poljak and Jerome Polenz are all missing.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat has named an attacking lineup for the match, with Archie Thompson coming in to a lineup also featuring Andrew Nabbout, James Troisi and Kosata Barbarouses.
But the home side will be without Mark Milligan, who is set to miss six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
Both sides need three points to continue their push for a top-two spot and we shouldn’t see more than a goal in this one either way.