Roar Guru
Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United face off at Pirtek Stadium for the opening match of Round 4. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT.
These teams have only played each other three times, and in these three encounters the Wanderers have walked away victors twice while Adelaide took the spoils in the other contest.
Western Sydney
The Wanderers have remained unbeaten so far this season, with two draws and a win last weekend over crosstown rivals Sydney FC.
They will be boosted on Friday night by the return of Aaron Mooy, but the big blow for Western Sydney is the loss of Youssouf Hersi.
The Wanderers where far less successful last year without the classy winger, most notably in their loss in the Grand Final.
They will take confidence out of their derby win against Sydney last week, where they looked dangerous up front and solid in defence.
Jeronimo will be their main target, as the Argentinian has found the back of the net on multiple occasions this season and Western Sydney will do their best to stop him adding to his tally.
Adelaide
Adelaide on the other hand lost to Central Coast at Bluetongue Stadium last weekend after an early goal from Nick Fitzgerald.
Adelaide dominated possession against the Mariners, but were found to be fragile against a quick counter attack. They must make more chances from their dominance of possession, and will be hoping goal machine Jeronimo can light up the Western Sydney defence.
Adelaide will have to control Shinji Ono if they are to have a chance against a high confidence Wanderers team.
X-factor
The X-factor is no other than the silky Japanese midfielder Ono. He has looked dangerous going forward and always manages to play the right ball and he will surely be Adelaide’s main focus for this match.
Ono is getting fitter and stronger with every appearance and if he improves on his showing against Sydney, then the Reds are in strife.
Prediction
It would be very hard to go past Western Sydney. They looked solid in defence and lethal in attack last week, and expect them to sit deep and try to catch Adelaide on the counter.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Adelaide had 65 percent possession, but I doubt they will have many shots.
Western Sydney Wanderers 2-0 Adelaide United