Five clubs are seeking breathing space on the most suffocating A-League ladder ever.
Never before in the competition’s history have just two points separated the top five clubs so close to the end of regulation rounds.
The tight finish has been dubbed “the great race” by the head of the A-League, Damien De Bohun.
The last time there was such a slender gap between the top five nearing the business end of an Australian season was in the National Soccer League after round 22 in 1989/90.
“It’s the tightest contest of any Australian competition in years,” De Bohun said on Monday.
“The finishing position in the top six has a huge bearing on qualifying for the grand final so the season could turn on every point and every goal over the remainder of the regular season.
“The pressure on every club will be enormous and that will produce some great, unscripted live drama.”
De Bohun said the top five – Wellington Phoenix (first, 42 points), Melbourne Victory (second, 41 points), Sydney FC (third, 41 points), Perth Glory (fourth, 40 points) and Adelaide United (fifth, 40 points) – all have genuine claims to the premier’s plate.
Melbourne Victory appear best positioned.
Victory are one point adrift of leaders Wellington Phoenix, who have banked 42 points.
But crucially the Victory have five games to play while the rest of the top five have only four.
The postponement of the Victory’s round 18 away fixture against Brisbane Roar because of a cyclone will shape the ladder’s upper reaches.
Kevin Muscat’s outfit travel to meet Wellington this Sunday but the rest of their fixtures are against clubs likely to miss the finals – Newcastle Jets, Brisbane twice, and Central Coast Mariners.
Wellington, in their last four matches, confront two sides in the top five logjam: Victory and Sydney FC, and also clash with sixth-placed Melbourne City.
The Sky Blues have a testing run home with games against Adelaide, Perth and Wellington to come.
Perth, the early pacesetters, remain well-placed despite a recent form slump – they play just one of the current top five, Sydney, in their last four games.
Adelaide also play just one of the top five in their run home – Saturday night’s blockbuster against Sydney FC.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Yeah NRL doing ok this season. Looks like they're finally getting their act together. Piece by piece. It has been a long hard climb back up since the Super League war.
Chris Wright
Guest
Errr, NRL actually up over the first 4 weekends this year.
Ian
Guest
You got me............after the comment was posted I had a rethink and realised they would have had players missing for international duty. But I was still shocked when I looked up the score and it was half time with Sydney up 3-0. Sydney were missing Janko who is leading goal scorer plus Sydney lost to City the week before.
Wii
Guest
With the Phoenix missing 6 starting players to international duty it's hard to fathom that this was an unexpected win to Sydney FC. Wellington were always going to be up against it, that's over half their starting team missing.no other team in this league could expect to miss such a huge chunk of talent and experience and expect to win.
savic
Guest
Quote: In my 10 years of being a Victory member l cannot recall a closer finish for top position... ...How about victory over au on goal difference in 09, but if your talking about so many teams having a sniff towards the end then I take your point.
Paul
Guest
Pignata also signalled a reluctance for SFC to do any promotional work too. A bit disturbing.
Justin Mahon
Guest
They are bang on last year, but they were tracking ahead. NRL down, AFL down last year. The general economy is shite and deposable income is in short supply. It'll pick up when the economy does. Asia Cup and CWC didn't hep on a number of fronts. I was surprised attendance held up as well as they did. I predicted they would fall for broader economic reasons before the season started.
MVDave
Guest
Yes forgot the Geelong game, even though l was there! Perth are solid and difficult to peg back if they get ahead but l'm confident Victory's class would show in any knockout game. The Nix are more of a concern as they play such an attacking style and have the players that can hurt their opponents. A semi final line up of MV vs MC and WP vs AU would be decent!
Mazzalenko
Guest
Sorry MVDave you are forgetting we lost to Perth when we played them in that shemozle in Geelong on January 2nd and in the 3 games we played Perth this season we have yet to beat them and that is a worry. As a Victory fan I want to have confidence the title is ours with our game in hand but recent results at home where we lost to Wellington and drew with Perth and only just beat Mariners gives me some concern.
MVDave
Guest
If Victory can win this week, big ask, it is their title to lose. In my 10 years of being a Victory member l cannot recall a closer finish for top position. Each of the top 5 teams is capable of beating the others but Victory have only lost to one, the Phoenix. We remain unbeaten against the rest and with our best 11 on the park l am confident we will finish top and claim a Championship/Premiership double. Victory, Nix, AU and of late, SFC have played some fabulously entertaining Football with Glory the ugly ducklings (playing wise) of the top 5. Victory vs AU to play off in the GF is my tip. Apart from Perth my observations are the top teams have played an attacking and attractive brand of Football probably unsurpassed in HALs brief 10 year existence. The games l have seen between them have been crackers. Looking forward already to the finals.
AZ_RBB
Guest
Does any have a fixture as big as SFC v Adelaide which could be season changing for either team? The only NRL clash is with Manly who are arguably the smallest club in Sydney. ALeague is at a stage where such fixtures should be getting 20k.
Ian
Guest
I think Pignata came out recently talking about lower than expected crowds for SFC after the Asian Cup. Bit of burnout and other sports tournaments.. I enjoy seeing bigger crowds but 20k would be a stretch.
Ian
Guest
Not withstanding my Roar team are out of the running it is an intriguing end to the season. As alluded to Victory have the benefit of a game in hand (against us - with two games in 4 days at the same venue), which you would 'think' they would win. They also have the best goal differential. This weekend between Wellington and MV is a big game. Though there is a big chance of a slip up or unexpected win loss. I wasn't expecting sydney to thump wellington and city beat sydney the previous week. If Perth or Adelaide win every game and other teams lose a game it's theirs. It could be Brisbane that deny Victory winning the premiership by taking points off them in the double header over 4 days. so many scenarios. With recent discussion about the points the top teams have compared to Brisbane Roar last season finishing on 52 points I've noticed the bottom 4 are currently on track to finish lower than the bottom 4 last season. In 2014 the bottom 4 finished on 38,28,28,26. Currently the bottom 4 are on 25, 20, 14 and 14.
Bondy
Guest
AZ Every form of Pro sport in the Country will be running this weekend, at least 6 different Pro sports even V8's ...
AZ_RBB
Guest
My only serious concern is with Perth who despite having a very strong season struggle to cross 10k when just about every other sporting team in their city manages to do so with ease. If SFC can't cross 20k this Saturday night then that will be a cause for concern as well. This is the biggest game of the season for them and they often claim to be the biggest club in Aus. Here is their chance to flex some muscles.
Paul
Guest
Asian Cup has exhausted wallets and perhaps enthusiasm. The Cricket World Cup also overshadowed the latter part of this season. Some real promotional work needs to be done, and soon otherwise the tightest run to the finals in any code for quite some time will disappear under the radar.
Chris Wright
Guest
I wonder if there is any concern at A-League headquarters over why attendances have fallen this year?
Uncle Junior
Guest
Only 2 teams control their destiny this season: Wellington and MV. Simply, if Victory is good enough to win its remaining matches it wins the ALeague title. If Wellington is good enough to win its remaining 4 matches, it wins the ALeague title. The other 3 teams need the top 2 to falter to give themselves a chance.
AZ_RBB
Guest
This is incredibly exciting. Wish my team was one of the five! Huge game at the SFS on Saturday and equally huge in Wellington. Hopefully SFC crack 20k and Wellington crack 5 figures.
Bondy
Guest
The game in hand Melbourne Victory have doesn't necessarily put them in a optimum position either .The Premiership is looking like it could very well be decided this season on goal aggregate , amazing ..