Melbourne City begin life without Caltex Socceroos star Tim Cahill with a mouth-watering Sunday afternoon clash against the sparkling Central Coast Mariners.
While City snapped a four-game winless run with a win in the Hunter last weekend, the Mariners have surged up to fourth spot thanks to back-to-back wins.
With the likes of De Silva, McCormack, Hoole, Fitzgerald and co. on the pitch, there should be plenty of entertainment on show at AAMI Park.
- Melbourne City are undefeated in their last six Hyundai A-League games against the Mariners (W5, D1), after having picked up just one win in 15 encounters prior (D4, L10).
- City have won the last three meetings between these squads played on a Sunday, scoring 10 goals in the process. But Warren Joyce’s men are winless in their last three games at AAMI Park (D1, L2).
- The Mariners are undefeated in their last three games played on a Sunday (W1, D2) in the Hyundai A-League, though there have been just three goals scored in total across those fixtures.
- Paul Okon’s troops have a passing accuracy of 80% when playing away from home this campaign, greater than any other team in the Hyundai A-League.
- City star Ross McCormack has recorded seven shots on target from outside the box this Hyundai A-League campaign, more than any other player. In fact, McCormack has scored three direct free-kicks this campaign; no other player has managed more than one.
- Mariners gloveman Ben Kennedy has the highest save percentage of any goalkeeper to record 10+ saves this Hyundai A-League season (82.4%).
