The first month of the Hyundai A-League 2017/18 season wraps up with five intriguing matches, starting Friday night.
Here are your five reasons to watch this weekend.
REDS RETURN TO COOPERS
Adelaide United have been one of the most watchable sides in the Hyundai A-League this season with coach Marco Kurz pulling together an attractive and effective squad.
After hosting Victory at Adelaide Oval last weekend, the Reds return to Coopers Stadium for the first time in 2017/18, where a huge crowd awaits.
Even better, the visitors are top-of-the-table Melbourne City, boasting three wins from their first three outings.
A mouth-watering Saturday night blockbuster awaits in the City of Churches.
O’DONOVAN v RIERA
Jet striker Roy O’Donovan is the Hyundai A-League’s hottest striker, netting five times in the first three games of the season.
He’ll lead the line as Newcastle look to break an unwanted record against the Wanderers; they have never beaten Western Sydney at McDonald Jones Stadium, drawing two and losing five of the seven previous encounters there.
At the other end, another in-form front-man, Oriol Riera will look to extend his excellent start to life in Australia and prolong the Jets’ poor record in this fixture.
BUCKING THE TREND
Kenny Lowe brings Perth to Allianz Stadium on Friday night knowing history is well and truly against them, with Sydney FC winning the last five meetings between the two sides.
Furthermore, Glory have won just two of their last 16 away games.
But it’s been a solid, if unspectacular start to the new season for the visitors and with three goals in the last 15 minutes of their first three games, they can never be discounted.
TURNING PERFORMANCE INTO POINTS
The one point alongside the Mariners’ name on the ladder belies some of the football they’ve played in the first 270 minutes of the new season.
For large parts of all three of their matches, they’ve shown they’ll be a force to be reckoned with when their defence can be tightened.
Victory come to Gosford in a very uncustomary lower-table position and Paul Okon’s men will believe they can succumb their visitors and secure a first win of the new campaign.
MILESTONES ACROSS THE DITCH
Brisbane Roar sit perched on 499 Hyundai A-League goals, one short of joining an exclusive club currently occupied only by Melbourne Victory in the Hyundai A-League.
While it’s points that matter most, reaching (and they hope, going well past) 500 goals will obviously help a Brisbane side that are the Hyundai A-League’s least prolific scorers after three matches.
But Roar alumni Dario Vidosic will want to help prolong his former employers’ losing streak as he chalks up his 100th match in the competition for his fourth club, Wellington Phoenix.
