- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Melbourne Victory have added another win to their ledger in a high-scoring affair against Perth Glory.
Final score
Melbourne Victory 3
Perth Glory 2
Despite what many would consider as an underachieving first half of the season, only four points seperate Melbourne Victory in fifth and Perth Glory in seventh, and only another six points set apart either team from outright fourth.
Nevertheless both teams are aiming to bounce back from disappointing losses as they meet at AAMI Park on Saturday as the Summer of Football Festival rolls on.
Join The Roar for a live blog of the match, starting from 7:50pm AEDT.
Last match
Melbourne Victory squandered their one-goal lead in Wellington to fall behind to their fifth loss of the season.
Kevin Muscat blamed “individual mistakes” for slumping to defeat in Wellington after they went down to 10-men with Rhys Williams being sent off inside 10 minutes.
Perth Glory were toothless in their 2-0 loss at home to Melbourne City earlier this week, having lost three on the trot, conceded 11 and scored zero. Kenny Lowe needs to dig deep to pull Perth out of the rut.
Squad news
Perth still have an alarming number of players unavailable in six, most notably Brandon Wilson and Jacob Poscoliero.
However they are boosted by the return of two important players to Perth’s lineup being Shane Lowry and Mitch Nichols.
Melbourne Victory have lost Rhys Williams after the Match review Panel allowed his suspension to uphold.
A major issue in defence know looms among Muscat as Thomas Deng is on international duty and James Donachie is out with a quad injury. Carl Valeri returns from suspension.
Tactics
There are a number of routes Victory could take to cover for the loss of their centre backs. Mark Milligan or Leigh Broxham could slot in alongside Dino Djulibic.
In either situation Victory are considerably weaker in midfield or on their left side so it’s a perfect time for Perth Glory to strike while Victory are a little weaker.
The contest between Mitch Nichols and Carl Valeri will be intriguing with Nichols remarkable ability to clock up over 12 kilometres on the field he’ll be able to run the slower Victory midfield a little ragged.
However Perth are extremely vulnerable at the back this season, conceding 30 goals in 15 games and that’s a tasty stat for Beast Berisha who has scored more goals against Perth than any other team in the league with 16 goal sin 15 games against the Glory.
Last time they met in Perth, it was Victory’s first win of the season back in November. This time around, Perth arrive at AAMI Park with a history of goal fests at the ground.
Prediction
Not sure it’ll be a terribly exciting match but still think it will be a score draw between the two sides, perhaps 1-1.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.