Melbourne City vs Newcastle Jets: FFA Cup live scores, blog

In one of the most highly-anticipated Round of 16 matches at the FFA Cup, Melbourne City will enter the only all A-League clash as favourites against the Newcastle Jets. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEST).

There is plenty to play for here, particularly from a City point of view, who were knocked out of the A-League semi-finals by the Jets last year.

While every other Round of 16 clash features at least one team not in the A-League, City and the Jets have drawn to play each other.

It comes after both teams recorded less than convincing victories in their first official hit-out since the end of the last A-League season during the Round of 32.

City were tasked with another A-League team in that game, playing the Brisbane Roar away from home at Redcliffe. The game went all the way into extra time, with City only just scraping through on the final whistle.

The Jets meanwhile, took on the Gold Coast Knights and also had to battle hard to escape the contest, eventually picking up a 1-0 victory.

Even though City’s attack was a bit all over the place against the Roar, they should have this one under control. Bruno Fornaroli will lead the way up front for City, and with their midfield, they should be able to service him well enough up front to find the back of the net.

Making things potentially easier in the midfield for the home side will be the injury to Jets midfielder Ben Kantarovski, who could be missing from this contest.

If the Jets do manage to get any quality ball forward though, they can expect opportunities to be completed through Dimi Petratos. While they have lost Andrew Nabbout through the off-season, Petratos had ten goals last season.

The skill of Petratos will need to be on display though, with Rory O’Donovan out.

Playing an aggressive brand of football, while risky, seems as if it’ll be their best chance of success in this Round of 32 contest.

Prediction
At home, it’s hard to see City not finding a way to win this one. Expect them to get an early goal and at least one more in the second half as they kick away with a victory in the 90 minutes.

City 2 – Jets 0.

Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of this FFA Cup match from 7:30pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.

Game information

Kick-off: 7:30pm (AEST)
Venue: AAMI Park, Melbourne
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel app, Foxtel now, MyFootball app
Betting: City $1.80, Jets $4

Melbourne City (squad)
Dean Bouzanis, Eugene Galekovic, James Delianov, Dylan Pierias, Harrison Delbridge, Iacopo La Rocca, Osama Malik, Scott Jamieson, Nathaniel Atkinson, Connor Metcalfe, Ramy Najjarine, Moudi Najjar, Luke Brattan, Bruno Fornaroli, Dario Vidosic, Michael O’Halloran, Riley McGree, Lachlan Wales, Anthony Caceres, Rostyn Griffiths

Newcastle Jets (squad)
Glen Moss, Nigel Boogaard, Ivan Vujica, Nick Cowburn, Daniel Georgievski, Johnny Koutroumbis, Lachlan Jackson, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Matthew Ridenton, Jason Hoffman, Ben Kantarovski, Steven Ugarkovic, Jake Adelson, Angus Thurgate, Ronald Vargas Dimi Petratos, Rory O’Donovan, Joseph Champness, Kosta Petratos

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Scott Pryde

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Scott has penned over 3000 articles and is one of The Roar's longest-serving writers, covering a wide range of sports. When he isn't writing about sport, you'll find him umpiring at the cricket, or on the hill at Kogarah supporting the Dragons.