Brisbane Roar welcome Adelaide United to the Suncorp Stadium in the Australian A-League on Saturday morning as both sides look to build on impressive victories last time out.
The hosts defeated Newcastle Jets 2-1 on the road, while Carl Veart's men saw off Melbourne Victory 1-0 on home territory.
Match preview
The Roar finished fourth in the Australian top flight last season, qualifying for the playoffs where they were defeated by Western United.
Despite their strong showing in 2019-20, head coach Warren Moon oversaw a huge overhaul of his squad over the summer.
Eleven new faces arrived at the Suncorp Stadium, offsetting the 10 former players who departed.
The raft of changes meant a bedding-in process was always going to be needed, and it looked as though Moon's men may take a while to get used to each other after they were defeated by Melbourne City on the opening day of the season.
However, back-to-back wins have followed that disappointing curtain-raiser, and Brisbane's bid to go one better this time around has started to take shape.
Adelaide finished in a lowly seventh place last season, largely thanks to their defensive woes, which saw them concede 49 goals in their 26 top-flight games.
Former assistant manager Veart was given the job on a permanent basis over the summer, though, and the 50-year-old head coach has overseen a flying start to the new campaign.
Seven points from their opening four games in 2020-21 has the Reds sitting in second place in the A-League standings, just two points behind table-toppers Central Coast Mariners.
Although Adelaide leaked five goals in their only defeat of the season to Perth Glory, the Coopers Stadium outfit have kept a clean sheet in all of their other outings.
That solid base could prove pivotal if they have serious ambitions of going all the way and lifting their first A-League title since 2016.
Brisbane Roar Australian A-League form: LWW
Adelaide United Australian A-League form: DWLD
Team News
Moon has the luxury of a fully-fit squad to choose from for this upcoming encounter and is unlikely to make many changes given the impressive showing in midweek.
That means star striker Dylan Wenzel-Halls is set to lead the line once again after bagging two goals in his last two games.
Full-back Ryan Strain returned to the starting lineup last time out, and his return is a big boost to Veart's men.
Spanish midfielder Javi Lopez also made his comeback from injury in the win over Melbourne Victory as a substitute and could return from the off on Saturday.
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Brown, Gillesphey, Aldred, Hingert; Akbari, O'Shea, Danzaki; Champness, McDonald, Wenzel-Halls
Adelaide United possible starting lineup:
Delianov; Smith, Jakobsen, Elsey, Marrone; Halloran, D'Arrigo, Caletti, Dukuly; Juric, Konstandopoulos
We say: Brisbane Roar 1-2 Adelaide United
It should be a tight affair between two in-form teams full of confidence. Both will have aspirations of reaching the playoffs come the end of the season, but we fancy Adelaide to come away with the three points after a closely fought encounter.
Top betting tip
George Cannon
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 Brisbane Roar win with a probability of 37.68%. A win for Adelaide United had a probability of 37.67% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.39%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.84%) and 2-0 (5.74%). The likeliest Adelaide United win was 1-2 (8.39%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.47%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 4.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Brisbane Roar would win this match.
