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The Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United fought out a goalless draw on Saturday night.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Western Sydney Wanderers 0
Adelaide United 0
The Western Sydney Wanderers are in a dangerous position, sixth on the A-League ladder and finals football isn’t guaranteed. Although it’s against last placed Adelaide United at Spotless Stadium in Sydney, The Wanderers mustn’t underestimate any opposition having taken only four wins from eight matches against teams below them.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game, starting from 7:50pm AEDT.
Both sides played Champions League football in midweek with neither coming out as the victor.
The Wanderers were well and truly torn apart by a rampant Shanghai SIPG in China on Tuesday night, losing 5-1, while Adelaide United were unlucky not to snatch a draw at the home of fellow Chinese giants Jiangsu Sainty, going down 2-1.
Meanwhile in the A-League, both sides are coming into this match with another daunting away loss under their belt.
The Wanderers were soundly beaten by an organised Perth Glory 2-0, rarely threatening to score except from a few set pieces, one which came off the bar from Terry Antonis in the first half.
Adelaide fell to a third straight loss to Melbourne Victory this season in a 2-1 defeat. Poor defensive positioning took its toll as well as something special from Marco Rojas from the dead ball moved Adelaide aside.
Team News
Fringe full-back Shannon Cole is omitted from the squad for this match. Some good news on the midfield front however as Kearyn Baccus returns to the team from his one-match suspension.
The Wanderers played a heavily rotated team in midweek against Shanghai, so expect a relatively same team that played against Perth Glory. Vedran Janjetovic will return in goal and the all Australian centre-back pairing of Robbie Cornthwaite and Jon Aspro will at least steady the defensive line.
Brendan Santalab should also start ahead of Ryan Griffiths at striker.
Adelaide played a relatively strong side against Jiangsu and travel from China straight to Sydney.
New signing at No.9 Eli Babalj has been included in the A-League squad for the first time. Babalj previously played for Adelaide last season but ruptured his ACL in pre-season.
Steely centre-back Taylor Regan also returns to the squad after being rested for the trip to China. His return will do plenty for the confidence of partner Dylan Mcgowan who have played well together in recent weeks.
A big shock to the system was the absence of Argentinian Marcelo Carrusca from the starting team. Having not been chosen for Champions League duty, Carrusca has been omitted from the squad against Western Sydney for unknown reasons.
Youngster Jordan O’Doherty will slip into his midfield No.8 role. The 19-year old has had a promising start to life in first team football.
Route to Goal
New Seneglese striker Baba Diawara played well in his first start against Melbourne Victory. A traditional target man, Diawara held the ball up and brought others into play with ease. The Wanderers possess a lot of height however in Aspro and Cornthwaite so playing directly will not exactly be too much of an option. However, Diawara does possess more pace than both defenders, perhaps balls in behind of the Wanderers medium high line could slice them open.
Nico Martinez will be the focal point for the Wanderers attack as he drifts centrally from the left. His link up with Santalab is important, often finding each other for one-twos on the edge of the box. Taylor Regan and Dylan Mcgowan aren’t exactly the most agile defenders so this is the most likely route of attack for the Wanderers which works well for them to penetrate the box, but the finishing touch alludes them.
Prediction
The Wanderers have more first team players fresh and available for selection in contrast to Adelaide who played a relatively strong side. I’m expecting the battle of stamina to hit the Adelaide because of their extent of travel and the Wanderers to capitalise with a win.
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