The Westfield W-League resumes from an international break with a Friday evening blockbuster, as Melbourne City face off against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park.
City will be full of confidence after an impressive 3-1 win over Sydney FC last time out.
American import Jasmyne Spencer bagged a hat-trick in that triumph, an ideal response to their 2-0 loss at Canberra United in Round 1.
Victory are ahead of City in the table, following up a goalless stalemate against Adelaide United with a 2-1 win over the Newcastle Jets that was highlighted by Melina Ayres’ long-range stunner.
⚽️GOAL OF THE ROUND ⚽️@victorywleague Melina Ayres has made long-range STUNNERS her specialty!
Can you bend it like Melina? ?#WLeague #Round2 #goals pic.twitter.com/cYMxsHh1VA
— Westfield W-League (@WLeague) November 6, 2018
And although City have won the last three Westfield W-League Grand Finals, Victory have enjoyed some recent success against the Champions, including a 2-1 triumph in January that came thanks to Ayres and a late Christina Gibbons winner.
This clash will be Westfield Matildas star Tameka Butt’s Melbourne City debut, too, the midfielder having crossed from Brisbane Roar.
THEY SAID IT
“The pleasing thing for us was that we created a huge amount of chances in a lot of different ways [last time out against Newcastle Jets] so I was really happy with that.” – Victory coach Jeff Hopkins
INS AND OUTS
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Lydia WILLIAMS (gk), 2.Yukari KINGA, 3.Lauren BARNES, 5.Helen CACERES, 8.Elise KELLOND-KNIGHT, 10.Nia STAMATOPOULOS, 11.Rhali DOBSON, 12.Adriana JONES, 15.Amy JACKSON, 16.Sofia SAKALIS, 19.Tyla-Jay VLAJNIC, 22.Jasmyne SPENCER, 23.Melissa BARBIERI (gk), 31.Tameka BUTT, 88.Theresa NIELSEN
In: 15.Amy JACKSON (promoted), 16.Sofia SAKALIS (promoted), 31.Tameka BUTT (promoted)
Out: 4.Chelsea BLISSETT (Suspension), 13.Rebekah STOTT (International duty), 18.Aimee MEDWIN (not selected)
Unavailable: 7.Stephanie CATLEY (Knee), 9.Jodie TAYLOR, 17.Kyah Simon (Achilles)
Melbourne Victory squad: 1. Casey DUMONT (gk), 3. Teigan ALLEN, 5. Laura ALLEWAY, 6. Annabel MARTIN, 7. Christine NAIRN, 8. Angela BEARD, 9. Natasha DOWIE (c), 10. Kyra COONEY-CROSS 11. MelindaJ BARBIERI, 14. Melina AYRES, 15. Emily GIELNIK, 16. Samantha JOHNSON, 17. Danielle WEATHERHOLT, 18.Grace MAHER, n19. Lia PRIVITELLI, 20. Bethany MASON-JONES (gk), 21. Ella MASTRANTONIO
**two to be omitted**
Ins: 10. Kyra COONEY-CROSS (promoted), 19. Lia PRIVITELLI (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
HOW TO WATCH
Tune in to FOX SPORTS 505 to see the first Melbourne Derby of 2018/19 Season, with kick off at 7:30pm (AEDT), or stream the match on the MyFootball Live App, live, fast and data-free for Telstra mobile customers.
TICKETS
CLICK HERE to purchase tickets.
