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Western Sydney Wanderers host Melbourne Heart in the early game on Saturday, a 5.30pm AEDT kickoff at Pirtek Stadium. The Roar will have live scores and commetnary right here throughout the match, so join in the conversation.
The issues
Western Sydney need to get back on track after a loss to Brisbane Roar and last weekend’s draw in Wellington, and what better way and to do it than winning back at Wanderland.
As a result of last night’s match, which saw Brisbane overcome Adelaide 2-1 at Hindmarsh, the Wanderers can’t afford to lose touch with the top-of-the-table Roar.
Melbourne Heart need to build on last weekend’s fightback against Adelaide, although the same frustrating signs were still on show.
Andrea Migliorini’s goal and celebration showed that the players are still behind Aloisi, but they’re going to need much more than that in hostile territory.
The ins and outs
Yousouff Hersi, Jerome Polenz and Shinji Ono all come back in to the squad after missing last week’s trip to Wellington, replacing Mark Cindric and another two to be omitted on matchday.
Melbourne Heart will hopefully regain Harry Kewell, fitness tests on matchday pending. Ben Garruccio makes his first squad of the season, two will be omitted from an otherwise unchanged squad.
The game
Melbourne Heart’s best bet will be to set up compact and force the Wanderers to make the play, as they have shown in the past they aren’t quite used to doing exactly that.
The visitors can’t just hoof it long to the tiny Michael Mifsud, rather keeping it on the ground to utilise the speed and smarts of Massimo Murdocca and David Williams.
Western Sydney have shown they are trying to add more strings to the bow, but they are at their best when they go long and press to keep the opposition under constant pressure.
The line-up Popovic opts for will be a talking spot in itself, with the club in the enviable position of having depth able to keep players like Michael Beauchamp and Shinji Ono out.
The prediction
Western Sydney 3-0 Melbourne Heart.
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