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After disappointing seasons in 2020-21, both Western United and Melbourne Victory will enter tonight’s encounter at GMHBA Stadium believing that a win could well exorcise some of the demons that cursed their most recent campaigns. Join The Roar for live scores from 7:45pm (AEDT).
Neither club seriously threatened the top six and a repeat performance will not be accepted by either set of supporters.
United have let nine sturdy men go and recruited the same number, as well as having appointed John Aloisi as the man to hopefully guide the team back to the finals. Melbourne Victory have undertaken a thorough clean out and the team that takes to the pitch tonight will most likely have only two or three familiar Victory names.
It makes for the most interesting of clashes and the battle between Aloisi and new Victory mentor Tony Popovic could well be one of the key talking points in the post-game.
Whilst United have recruited aggressively, the signing of six Socceroos and a proven A-League manager suggest the men in dark blue are about to rebound with serious force and they potentially loom as the winners in what looks a tricky game to tip on paper.
Game information Venue: GMHBA Stadium, Geelong Kick-off: 7:45pm (AEDT) Live stream: Paramount+ Betting: Western United FC $2.68, Melbourne Victory $2.46 – odds via PlayUp
Teams Western United FC
Jamie Young, Léo Lacroix, Dylan Pierias, Tomoki Imai, Lachlan Wales, Dylan Wenzel-Halls, Steven Lustica, Connor Pain, Dalibor Markovic, Ivan Vujica, Rene Krhin, Ben Garuccio, Josh Risdon (vc), Sebastian Pasquali, Alessandro Diamanti (c), Ayom Majok, Luke Duzel, Nicolas Milanovic, Jerry Skotadis, Adisu Bayew, Christian Theoharous, Ajak Deu, Ryan Scott, Noah Botic, Rhys Bozinovski, Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Neil Kilkenny, Aleksandar Prijović
Melbourne Victory
Matt Acton, Jason Geria, Jason Davidson, Rai Marchán, Matthew Spiranovic, Leigh Broxham (c), Chris Ikonomidis, Joshua Brillante, Francesco Margiotta, Robbie Kruse, Ben Folami, Birkan Kirdar, Jay Barnett, Aaron Anderson, Stefan Nigro, Brendan Hamill, Nicholas D’Agostino, Ivan Kelava, Roderick, Jake Brimmer, Marco Rojas, Nishan Velupillay, Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio, Lleyton Brooks, Zaydan Bello, Gianluca Iannucci, Jerrad Tyson
