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Melbourne Victory are the toast of Melbourne as they defeat Melbourne City 5-2 at Etihad Stadium.
Melbourne City took the lead twice in the first half, but it would be Victory that stormed home in the second half off the back of a flurry of goals to their key pair up front.
The Victory may have just earned themselves premiership favouritism.
FINAL SCORE:
Victory 5 (Berisha 3, Thompson 2)
City 2 (Weilaert, Hoffman)
Can David Villa, in his first and last derby game, provide Melbourne City with their first win for the season against their cross town rival Melbourne Victory? Join The Roar for a live blog of the Melbourne derby from 7:30pm (AEDT).
This week has all been about the Spanish international on the field, and off it. Against Newcastle he scored his second goal in two games for the club.
On Wednesday it was announced he would just play four games for the club instead of the ten originally announced by the club.
Tonight’s match, his third for the club, will be the biggest of his City career so far as they play the Victory at Etihad Stadium.
It is a big match for both clubs with bragging rights on the line for each team. A win for either club would also move them high on the ladder.
If Victory wins they could move to the top of the A-League ladder for around 24 hours. A City win would keep them undefeated for the season and also move them to third on the ladder.
The interest for the game has been the highest it has been since the Melbourne Heart entered the competition. The name change, and the arrival of David Villa, has seen the match sell out during the week.
This is the first time that has happened in the history of the derby, and if everyone turns up for the match, then it could break the record of 45,202 between the two which was set last year.
It would also be the highest crowd for an A-League match in the regular season in 8 years. 50,333 turned up in 2006 for the match between the Victory and Sydney FC.
Predicting what will happen in this match is like predicting the lottery numbers in a draw. Last year, in the three matches between the two, both teams won once, and the other match was a draw.
Overall the record is four wins to the Victory, four wins for City, and four draws. Any result can happen and form matters little in the matches between the two.
Having said that the Victory are the favourites with the bookies for the win against City.
The key to tonight’s match is the attack of both teams. The Victory have an abundance of options with Kosta Barbarouses, Besart Berisha , Archie Thompson and Fahid Ben Khalfallah all in good form so far this year for Melbourne.
While they struggled to score against Adelaide last week, they did put four goals past the Wanderers in Round 1.
They look to be a real threat to the defence of the City and they will score goals tonight. On the other hand, Melbourne City has struggled to score goals this year.
In two matches they have scored only two goals with both of them scored by David Villa. Apart from Villa the other players have struggled to score goals in the first two rounds of the season.
With Villa leaving in two games, this needs to change and change quickly.
City though has a good range of options that have scored plenty of goals in previous years. David Williams scored 12 goals last year but hasn’t scored this year in two games so far.
Mate Dugandzic has scored 11 goals in his 56 matches so far for the City. Combine that with the new signings in James Brown, Damien Duff, Connor Chapman, and Aaron Mooy; City have options that can score goals.
Tonight will be interesting to see if things can finally click and the City can score those much needed goals.
They certainly did it when they defeated the Victory 4-0 earlier this year in the final derby of the season. When you least expect a performance from City in a derby, they usually win, and surprise everyone.
Tonight could be one of those matches.
Predicting this match is tough. Both sides can win the match and it really is anyone’s match.
I’m going to go for a draw between the two teams but it wouldn’t surprise me if one of the teams wins tonight.
Prediction: 1-1.
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