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A revamped Western Sydney Wanderers will face league leaders the Brisbane Roar in a must win match tonight. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:45pm (AEDT).
The Wanderers, after coming off of a decent ACL performance mid-week, will field a full strength squad, most of whom were rested for the vital match tonight that will either make or break their top-two-finishing prospects.
And Brisbane, despite being crowned league winners, will look to finish the competition well, with A-League finals’ looming around the corner.
In previous match-ups, the Wanderers lost 3-1 to the Roar in Round 7, and played out a stalemate in Round 18, which ended 1-1. Recent form also favours the the Roar who have four wins and one draw from their past five encounters.
The Wanderers have won just two of their past five matches.
Decisive Factor
Tony Popovic’s rotation policy may be the decisive factor for the Wanderers, who will need to throw everything they have at Brisbane if they are to find a result tonight. Spiranovic played just 25 minutes in the Wanderers’ unfortunate loss away to Yokohama midweek.
The towering utility defender will be key in stopping Brisbane’s defence, as will Topor-Stanley, who stayed in Sydney while his team travelled to Japan. Appiah-Kubi could be an unlikely starter, after a stand out performance against Yokohama Marinos.
Brisbane also have the luxury of a full squad this week, with the return of Ivan Franjic after three weeks out, and Luke Brattan who spent Round 25 on the sidelines due to a knee injury. Whether Mulvey plays the attacking duo or not is unknown, and as there is no need to risk them, he may be tempted to try some fringe players and test his squad’s depth.
Berisha is of course suspended for one match, which opens up the door for Henrique or Soloranzo to get an unlikely start. Whatever the case, we’ve seen Brisbane grind out results in the most unlikely of circumstances this season, so to ride them off would be naïve. Look out for Petratos, McKay and Brattan when in possession.
Prediction
Western Sydney’s ACL experience this season will prove to strengthen, rather than hinder their chances in this match. 2-1 to Wanderers.
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