Sydney FC will be eyeing a little slice of Hyundai A-League history in Saturday night’s Big Blue at Allianz Stadium.
The Sky Blues will be chasing a record fifth clean sheet to start the season – a feat that has never been achieved.
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Only on four previous occasions has a side managed five shutouts in a row during the season, with Sydney FC already featuring on this list twice – in 2006/07 and 2009/10.
The other two sides to achieve this run are the 2007/08 Season Mariners and 2009/10 Victory side, while no team has ever managed to go six matches without having to pick the ball out of their own net.
If you include this season’s Westfield FFA Cup, Sydney FC run of clean sheets stretches to eight matches, having not conceded a goal en route to the final.
Meanwhile goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, who has had to deal with a league-low 16 shots on target, is well on the way to eclipsing Mat Ryan’s record of 13 clean sheets in an A-League season.
The Sky Blues’ previous runs of five shut-outs were both ended by 1-0 defeats to now defunct teams, Gold Coast United (2010) and New Zealand Knights (2007).
This time around it is Victory – fresh from putting six past the Phoenix on Monday night – standing in their way.
They’ll be hoping to keep their recent record against Graham Arnold’s side in tact as the Sky Blues have not beaten Victory in their last nine attempts (D5, L4) and tellingly have not managed a clean sheet against them in their last six encounters.
It’s one of the many intriguing sub-plots in this epic Saturday night showdown between first and third on the ladder.
