It’s a Melbourne Derby with some added spice on Saturday night as Victory do battle with finals chasing Western United FC at Bankwest Stadium.
United – in their debut season in the Hyundai A-League – sit in seventh spot heading into this contest, three points behind sixth-placed Adelaide United but with two games in hand.
A win over Victory, who they have already defeated twice in 2019/20, would put Mark Rudan’s men in the box seat to play finals football, especially given their form before the competition hiatus in March.
While Victory’s finals hopes are faint, interim boss Grant Brebner will hope his side can move up the ladder over the closing rounds.
But they will need to find goals from a new avenue with Robbie Kruse (injured) and Ola Toivonen (departed the club) out of action for the remainder of the season.
MATCH REPORT: Wellington fend off surging Perth to claim vital three points
Saturday, 25 July 2020
Kick-off: 7.35pm AEDT
Venue: Bankwest Stadium
Broadcast: FOX Sports 507
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
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Team news
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Matt ACTON (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 4.James DONACHIE, 6.Leigh BROXHAM (c), 7.Kenny ATHIU, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 13.Birkan KIRDAR, 15.Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO, 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 23.Marco ROJAS, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 26.Jay BARNETT, 31.Aaron ANDERSON, 34.Lleyton BROOKS, 43.Luis LAWRIE-LATTANZIO **2-4 to be omitted**
Unavailable: 5.Tim HOOGLAND (released), 8.Jakob POULSEN (released), 10.Robbie KRUSE (knee – season), 11.Ola TOIVONEN (released)
Western United FC Squad: 1.Filip KURTO (GK), 2.Aaron CALVER, 4.Andrew DURANTE, 5.Dylan PIERIAS, 6.Tomoki IMAI, 7.Valentino YUEL, 9.Apostolos STAMATELOPOULOS, 10.Steven LUSTICA, 11.Connor PAIN, 14.Max BURGESS, 15.Jonathan ASPROPOTAMITIS, 17.Joshua CAVALLO, 18.Besart BERISHA, 19.Josh RISDON, 21.Sebastian PASQUALI, 22.Tomislav USKOK, 23.Alessandro DIAMANTI (c), 25.Luke DUZEL, 27.Jerry SKOTADIS, 30.Ryan SCOTT (GK). **2-4 to be omitted**
Unavailable: 3.Brendan HAMILL (knee – season), 13.Ivan VUJICA (groin – season), 20.James DELIANOV (GK) (knee – season).
NEWS: Hyundai A-League 2019/20 season updated match schedule released
Did you know?
- Melbourne Victory have won only one of their last nine Hyundai A-League games (L6), scoring only three first-half goals in that span.
- Western United FC have scored three goals in each of their two wins against Victory this season.
- United’s Josh Risdon has provided six assists for Besart Berisha this season, the most of any player for a single teammate.
