The traditional pre-Christmas Melbourne Derby is the blockbuster clash in Round 11 with the two bitter rivals to do battle at AAMI Park on Saturday.
Victory will hope the old adage that ‘form goes out the window’ in a derby rings true as it’s City who have made a far stronger start to the 2019/20 Season.
City arguably produced the best team performance of the campaign last weekend, thrashing Newcastle Jets 4-0 to consolidate second spot on the ladder.
Erick Mombaerts’ side aren’t only playing some breathtaking football, but they sit 10 points and six places above Victory, despite playing one game less.
If Victory is to begin their march up the ladder, then this would be the best place to start. Despite having won just two of their 10 matches under Marco Kurz, they do tend to produce their best in the derby.
Victory is undefeated in their last five Hyundai A-League games against their crosstown rivals at AAMI Park (W3, D2). They have also kept four clean sheets so far this campaign, twice as many as any other team in the competition.
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Saturday, 21v December 2019
Kick-off: 5.00pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast: ABC TV, FOX Sports 505
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports, ABC iView
HOW TO WATCH: Hyundai A-League Round 11
RECAP: Watch all the Mini Matches from Round 10
Ways to watch
ABC TV
Download the MyFootball Live App now
Sign up for Kayo Sports
Get Foxtel
How to follow the action
Match centre: Live updates, videos and statistics
Follow @ALeague on Twitter and join the conversation using #MelbDerby #ALeague
Team news
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Harrison DELBRIDGE, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Javier CABRERA, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER 11.Craig NOONE, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 19.Lachlan WALES, 20.Adrian LUNA, 21.Ramy NAJJARINE, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 30.Moudi NAJJAR, 34.Connor METCALFE, 40.Richard WINDBICHLER, 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS (returns from illness), 30.Moudi Najjar (promoted), 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI (promoted)
Outs: 17.Denis GENREAU (shoulder)
Unavailable: Nil
Melbourne Victory squad: 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 4.James DONACHIE, 5.Tim HOOGLAND, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Jakob POULSEN, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 10.Robbie KRUSE, 11.Ola TOIVONEN (c), 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 19.Ben CARRIGAN, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 26.Jay BARNETT, 50.Brendan WHITE (gk) **2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 5.Tim HOOGLAND (promoted), 7.Kenny ATHIU (promoted), 16.Josh HOPE (promoted)
Outs: 22.Kristijan DOBRAS (suspended – 1 week)
Unavailable: 1.Matt ACTON (shoulder), 14.Thomas DENG (groin)
Did you know?
- Each of the last three A-League games between Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory have ended in a draw. Victory had won four of their six meetings prior to that span (L2).
- City will be out to avoid back-to-back Hyundai A-League defeats at AAMI Park for the first time since March 2018 after a 3-0 loss to Perth Glory last time out at the venue.
- Victory have lost only one of their last 12 Hyundai A-League games at AAMI Park (W6, D5), keeping a clean sheet in their last two games there.
- Victory’s Robbie Kruse (Melbourne Victory) has scored a goal once every 55 minutes in Melbourne derbies, the most frequent of any player in A-League history (3 goals in 165 minutes)
