Two sides who have endured contrasting fortunes kick-start the action on Sunday as Melbourne City host Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park.
City have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the Hyundai A-League campaign, with last weekend’s brave 2-1 win over Western United moving Erick Mombaerts’ men into second spot on the ladder.
But this week they will have to do without the man who has scored all their goals so far this campaign, with striker Jamie Maclaren out with a hamstring injury.
The winless Phoenix will hope to capitalise on that, still searching for their first points of the campaign under new boss Ufuk Talay.
The narrow loss to premiers Perth Glory last Sunday continued a consistent theme for the Kiwi club so far in 2019/20, producing a strong performance with no reward. Can that change at AAMI on Sunday?
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Sunday, 3 November 2019
Kick-off: 4pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast: FOX Sports 505
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
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Team news
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 8.Javier CABRERA, 11.Craig NOONE, 13.Nathniel 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, 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES, 36.Kerrin STOKES, 40.Richard WINDBICHLER, 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 21.Ramy NAJJARINE (promoted), 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI (promoted)
Outs: 9.Jamie MACLAREN (hamstring)
Unavailable: 10.Florin BERENGUER (hamstring)
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Stefan MARINOVIC (gk), 2.Liam McGING, 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Te Atawhai HUDSON-WIHONGI, 5.Matti STEINMANN, 6.Tim PAYNE, 7.Reno PISCOPO, 8.Cameron DEVLIN, 9.David BALL, 10.Ulises DAVILA, 11.Jaushua SOTIRIO, 14.Alex RUFER, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Callan ELLIOT, 20.Oliver SAIL (gk), 21.Callum McCOWATT, 23.Walter SCOTT, 27.Steven TAYLOR (c), 31.Ben WAINE, 88. Gary HOOPER
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 4.Te Atawhai HUDSON-WIHONGI (promoted), 17.Callan ELLIOT (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 13.Liberato CACACE (suspended – 1 match)
Did you know?
- Melbourne City are undefeated in their last 13 Hyundai A-League games at AAMI Park (W8, D5), keeping six clean sheets in that period.
- Wellington Phoenix have opened the Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Season with three consecutive losses. A fourth straight defeat would equal their worst-ever start to a season (L4 in 2016/17).
- Phoenix boast the highest passing accuracy (84%) of any team this season, while only Brisbane Roar (600) have averaged more pass attempts per game this campaign than Ufuk Talay’s side (513).
