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The Western Sydney Wanderers have got their first home win of the season, knocking over the Newcastle Jets two goals to none on Sunday.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Western Sydney Wanderers 2
Newcastle Jets 0
The Western Sydney Wanderers and Newcastle Jets clash this afternoon to close out Round 16 with both sides’ hopes of finals football hanging in the balance. Join The Roar from 5pm (AEDT) for all the live scores, highlights and action.
The Wanderers come into this game with their season reeling after going the last six weeks without a win, pushing them out of top four contention and falling down to eighth.
Their last win came back in Round 9 when they walked all over the Central Coast Mariners in a 4-1 blitz.
Since then they’ve picked up four draws and two defeats, including a tense nil-all draw in the Sydney derby last week against league leaders Sydney FC.
Coach Tony Popovic will be homing the home ground advantage will give them some reprieve, however, they haven’t won at home in their last seven games either.
Since leaving Parramatta stadium the Wanderers no longer have a fortress they can build around and the results have been less than ideal in a season where they’re struggling to fire.
The Jets are working the other way up the ladder at the moment losing just one of their last six games as they try to remedy a slow start to the season.
Newcastle sit just one point behind the Phoenix who are in sixth place at the moment, meaning a win today would throw the Jets up into the finals equation with form behind them.
The Wanderers aren’t out of it though, if they can win by five goals this afternoon then they’ll be able to leapfrog the Jets and Wellington into sixth.
These two sides have met just the once so far this season all the way back in Round 3 when Nigel Boogard and Andrew Hoole both scored in the final ten minutes for the Jets to steal a 2-2 draw.
Team News
The Wanderers welcome back super sub Brendon Santalab from suspension after receiving his first ever A-League red card.
Santalab spent three weeks on the sideline after a nasty incident with Jade North against the Brisbane Roar at the end of December.
Steven Lustica and Terry Antonis have been added to an extended matchday squad, while Abraham Majok has been dropped for the fixture.
For the Jets, they also welcome back a player, this time from injury as Englishman Wayne Brown comes back from a hip injury.
While Brown comes back in, Newcastle will be without Andrew Hoole.
Hoole copped his fifth yellow card of the season during last week’s draw against Perth, meaning he will just miss one week.
Labinot Haliti and Kristian Brymora have also been promoted into the side, but Ben Kantarovski remains out and is expected to return to full fitness next week from his knee injury.
Prediction
The Wanderers have been all over the place this season and can’t seem to find form from anywhere.
They have nine draws but only two wins, showing how they’ve been able to hang with the best sides and stay in the game, but they lack that finishing touch and execution to push them up the ladder.
The Jets are on fire at the moment after a less than ideal start to their campaign and are looking for their third win on the road in four games. They’ll be very tough to beat today for a struggling Western Sydney outfit.
Newcastle to win 1-0
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