In round 10 of the Australian A-League, Western Sydney Wanderers welcome Adelaide United to the Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts will aim to extend their unbeaten run to eight games, while the visitors will be looking to build on last week's hard-earned 3-2 victory over league leaders Central Coast Mariner.
Match preview
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After finishing ninth in the 2019-20 campaign, Western Sydney Wanderers have made tremendous improvements over the past few months and have started the new season in fine form.
Although Carl Robinson's men lost their opening game to newcomers Macarthur, they quickly bounced back and have remained unbeaten since then.
The hosts have not tasted defeat in their last seven games, a run that includes a 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets, an impressive 1-0 win over league leaders Central Coast Mariners and a 1-1 draw with second-placed Macarthur.
While the Wanderers have the joint-best defensive record in the league with just eight goals conceded, they are not high-flying in front of goal, scoring only 11 goals in eight outings.
Adelaide United, on the other hand, have had a decent campaign so far, but several inconsistent performances have prevented them from moving into the playoff spots, and with three wins in eight games, they occupy seventh position in the A-League table.
Carl Veart's side have struggled at the defensive end of the pitch this season, and they currently have the league's worst defensive record with 16 goals conceded already.
The visitors were recently on a three-game losing streak, falling to defeat against Brisbane Roar, Perth Glory and Macarthur in succession.
However, a hat-trick of penalties from Australian-born striker Tomi Juric inspired Adelaide to a 3-2 victory over the Mariners last time out, bringing an end to their disappointing run.
Western Sydney will come into this clash full of confidence, as they are on a run of three-straight wins against the visitors since a 2-1 defeat back in January 2019.
In their last meeting, the Wanderers came out victorious in a seven-goal thriller, with Mitchell Duke scoring a brace to inspire his side to a 5-2 victory on home turf.
Western Sydney Wanderers Australian A-League form: DWDDWD
Adelaide United Australian A-League form: LWLLLW
Team News
Wanderers' captain Dylan McGowan is expected to lead the team on Saturday after he returned from an ankle injury last week.
Carl Robinson will be without the services of goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic, who is sidelined with a long-term injury.
The visitors come into this fixture without a few key players, as they have a relatively long injury list.
Michael Jakobsen and Ryan Kurto will miss out through calf and knee injuries respectively, while full-back Ryan Strain picked up a groin problem.
Australian-born midfielder Nathan Konstandopoulos has been ruled out for the rest of the season after rupturing his ACL.
Western Sydney Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Margush; McGowan, Mourdoukoutas, Gordon; Georgievski, Dorrans, Baccus, Russell; Troisi, Ibini-Isei, Cox
Adelaide United possible starting lineup:
Delianov; Smith, Jakobsen, Elsey, Strain; Caletti, D'Arrigo; Dukuly, Mauk, Halloran; Juric
We say: Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 Adelaide United
With similar starts to the new campaign, this fixture will be a close one, however, Western Sydney are the better team currently, and they should be able to continue their impressive run and steal all three points on Saturday.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Western Sydney Wanderers win with a probability of 42.88%. A win for Adelaide United had a probability of 32.57% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Western Sydney Wanderers win was 2-1 with a probability of 9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.56%) and 2-0 (6.72%). The likeliest Adelaide United win was 1-2 (7.67%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.46%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.7% likelihood.
