No surprises who most of the focus is on heading into this one as Perth Glory striker Bruno Fornaroli comes up against his former club Melbourne City for the first time.
Fornaroli was a City legend until he was frozen out by former coach Warren Joyce last season, eventually joining the defending Premiers for 2019/20.
And he loves playing at AAMI Park, scoring 29 goals in just 36 appearances there for both City and Glory.
But the home side have their own deadly striker in Jamie Maclaren, who leads the Golden Boot race with nine goals in just four appearances.
If he finds the net on Friday night, he’ll become just the second City player in history (after Ross McCormack) to score in five straight games.
While City are currently in second spot, two points behind Sydney FC, Glory are currently last and need to start winning games if they are to mount a serious premiership defence.
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Friday, December 6 2019
Kick-off: 7.30pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast: FOX Sports 505
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
HOW TO WATCH: Every Hyundai A-League game in Round 9
WATCH: All the Mini Matches from Round 8
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Team news
Melbourne City FC squad list: 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, 17.Denis GENREAU, 19.Lachlan WALES, 20.Adrian LUNA, 21.Ramy NAJJARINE, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 30.Moudi NAJJAR, 34.Connor METCALFE, 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 10.Florin BERENGUER (promoted), 34.Connor METCALFE (promoted), 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI (promoted)
Outs: 39.Idrus ABDULAHI (omitted)
Unavailable: 40.Richard WINDBICHLER (hamstring)
Perth Glory squad: 1.Tando VELAPHI (gk), 2.Alex GRANT, 3.Jacob TRATT, 4.Gregory WUTHRICH, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Dino DJULBIC, 7.Joel CHIANESE, 8.James MEREDITH, 9.Bruno FORNAROLI, 12.Kim SOO-BEOM, 14.Chris HAROLD, 15.Brandon WILSON, 16.Tomislav MRCELA, 17.Diego CASTRO (c), 19.Chris IKONOMIDIS, 20.Jake BRIMMER, 27.JUANDE, 28.Gabriel POPOVIC, 33.Liam REDDY (gk), 88.Neil KILKENNY
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 3.Jacob TRATT (promoted), 15.Brandon WILSON (promoted), 16.Tomislav MRCELA (returns from injury), 28.Gabriel POPOVIC (promoted)
Outs: 29.Kristian POPOVIC (injured)
Unavailable: 13.Osama MALIK (hamstring – 1 week), 29.Kristian POPOVIC (thigh – 2 weeks)
Did you know?
- Melbourne City have won only one of their last 10 Hyundai A-League games against Perth Glory (D3, L6); their last win against them came in January 2018 at HBF Park.
- Perth Glory have a passing accuracy of 84% this Hyundai A-League season, the highest of any team in the competition.
- City have won their last four Hyundai A-League games on the bounce at AAMI Park; only once in their history in the competition have they won more games in succession at the venue – a five-game streak to begin 2013.
