Roar Guru
The Essendon Bombers have overcome a spirited Carlton squad at the MCG by eight points.
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Final score
Essendon Bombers 11.18.84
Carlton Blues 11.10.76
The Essendon Bombers play host to an old rival in the Carlton Blues on Saturday afternoon. Join The Roar for a live blog and scores from 2:10pm AEST.
10th plays 17th in a must-win battle for the Bombers to keep their season alive. Carlton are playing for pride for the remainder of the season and will also be hoping to play spoiler to the Bombers’ chances of playing in the finals.
These two teams faced off against one another earlier in the season with the Blues toppling the Bombers by 15 points in a low-scoring affair at the MCG.
The loss could come back to haunt their Bombers in their quest for the top 8, however a win in this game may right those wrongs from Round 3. The Blues have won three of the past five games against the bombers and will want to add to their recent strong record.
Both Essendon and Carlton are coming off big losses last week with the Bombers losing by 30 to the reigning premiers the Bulldogs and Carlton never looking like troubling a contender in the Cats, going down by 65 points.
Essendon’s spearhead forward Joe Daniher will look to extend his lead in the Coleman medal race this week currently leading Ben Brown by just 2 goals, against a Carlton team who are running out of gas as the season progresses.
Liam Jones has been impressive this season but Joe Daniher is in career best form and has been able to kick goals on almost anyone in the competition.
Dennis Armfield has been named to the Blues squad for the first time since Round 2 this season, he will be hoping to build a solid case to remain in the senior squad for the remainder of the season.
Essendon look to be too good for the Blues in this matchup but very similar things were said at the start of the season and Carlton managed to get the win. If the Blues can keep the Bombers scoring low it will go a long way to getting the victory.
Essendon on the other hand still have a lot to play for this season and they will not want a chance at the top 8 to go begging especially against a team who is anchored to the bottom end of the ladder.
Prediction
Essendon Bombers by 21.
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