The Isuzu UTE A-League is serving up another mouth-watering day of action.
First, defending champions and league-leading Melbourne City welcome Sydney FC to AAMI Park in a rematch of last season’s Grand Final.
And then Melbourne Victory travel to struggling Perth Glory to cap the midweek A-League Men schedule.
Read on for individual match previews of the two A-Leagues fixtures:
- Melbourne City v Sydney FC
Isuzu UTE A-League, AAMI Park. Kick-off 7.05pm AEST
- Perth Glory v Melbourne Victory
Isuzu UTE A-League, HBF Park. Kick-off 9.05pm AEST
Big games like old times for City recruit
Ed Jackson, AAP
Melbourne City recruit Carl Jenkinson can feel the similarity between his days at Premier League giants Arsenal and the A-League Men’s champions’ daunting April schedule.
Jenkinson regularly spent his time with the Gunners playing against rivals such as Manchester United and Liverpool before backing up on massive European nights such as Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in Germany in 2013.
Having struggled for regular football in the past 12 months before arriving in Australia, Jenkinson says City’s upcoming matches are exactly the sort of games he missed being a part of.
City welcome Sydney FC to AAMI Park on Wednesday in a Grand Final rematch before a Derby clash with Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
After that, City head to Thailand for their inaugural AFC Champions League campaign, where they’ll play six group-stage matches before returning for the end of the ALM season in May.
“I love that to be honest,” Jenkinson said.
“The past couple of years I haven’t played as much as I would have liked so to be here now in this situation and they feel like big games.
“Obviously Sydney is a massive game and the derby and then off to the Champions League, that’s big game after big game and it’s exciting.
“It’s what I’ve needed and what I’ve wanted on a personal level for while.”
City’s 6-0 thrashing of Wellington Phoenix last weekend means they now hold a five-point lead at the top of the ladder with four games to play in the regular season.
Sydney, in contrast, are battling to keep in the finals positions with their 3-2 Derby win over Western Sydney Wanderers last weekend keeping them fifth – one of three teams locked on 28 points in what is becoming a tight race for the top six.
The Sky Blues will head south without suspended Socceroo Rhyan Grant, who was sent off late against the Wanderers.
Goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne remains unavailable after testing positive to COVID-19 but Tom Heward-Belle is set to return from the concussion issue that ruled him out for the Wanderers game.
“They gave us a good game for sure up in Sydney and there was spells where they were very good,” Jenkinson said of the Sky Blues.
“We was deserved winners on that day but we know it’s going to be a difficult game, 100 per cent.
“Sydney’s another challenge that we need to come through.”
MELBOURNE CITY V SYDNEY FC
Isuzu UTE A-League
Wednesday, April 6 2022
AAMI PARK
Kick-off: 7.05pm AEST
MATCH CENTRE | HOW TO WATCH
Victory a huge ALM task for wounded Glory
Ed Jackson, AAP
Interim Perth Glory head coach Ruben Zadkovich is running out of room on his office whiteboard to keep track of the struggling A-League Men’s club’s injury toll.
Ahead of a visit from former Glory coach Tony Popovic’s Melbourne Victory, Zadkovich says he’s got between 12 and 13 first-teamers unavailable for the game.
That casualty ward includes star English recruit Daniel Sturridge (groin), captain Brandon O’Neill (shoulder), goalkeeper Brad Jones (knee) and leading scorer Bruno Fornaroli (ankle).
With Perth now winless in 10 games after their 4-2 loss to Macarthur FC last Sunday, Zadkovich has had to turn to the club’s youth ranks as a hectic fixture list continues to take its toll.
“We have to take player welfare into consideration. The fixture list is almost beyond a joke in reality,” Zadkovich said.
“The best way to manage that is to make sure we don’t send anybody out there that’s not fit to play.
“We’ll keep having a tinker with the squad and changes and there are some other quality young players at this club that will put their hand up.”
While Zadkovich is trying to piece together an XI for Wednesday’s match, Victory are firmly in the hunt for a finals position.
Popovic’s team sit fourth in the standings, having played two less games than third-placed Macarthur but only a point behind the Bulls.
With Socceroos pair Nick D’Agostino and Ben Folami pushing to start for Victory after coming off the bench in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Adelaide United, Zadkovich is all too aware of the task that awaits his inexperienced team.
“One of the biggest clubs in Australia with a coach who knows exactly what he wants,” Zadkovich said.
“He’s gone and signed players that play the way he wants to play so again they’re going to be well-structured, well-disciplined.
“They’re hard-working, they’re fit and they have high-quality players in key areas.
“Unfortunately for us right now our high-quality, better players in the squad aren’t available.”
Victory also have the motivation of revenge having suffered a 3-0 loss at home the last time these teams met in December, a defeat Folami said was significant in Victory’s season.
“It was a time where the boss really wanted us to make sure that we react to any adversities in any games and I think since that point we’ve definitely gotten better at that,” the striker said.
“It was a good lesson for us as a group of players and it’s a lesson that we’ve taken on board really well.”
PERTH GLORY V MELBOURNE VICTORY
Isuzu UTE A-League
Wednesday, April 6 2022
HBF PARK
Kick-off: 9.05pm AEST
MATCH CENTRE | HOW TO WATCH
