In their game at the HBF Park this season, Perth Glory will aim to extend their winning run to three when they take on Melbourne City on Saturday.
Patrick Kisnorbo's side have endured a rather disappointing start to the season and they will be looking to snap their dire run of three-straight losses.
Match preview
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Perth Glory have enjoyed a decent start to the A-League campaign as they are in sixth-place in the league table with three wins and two losses.
Richard Garcia's men are on a two-game winning run after a 3-1 victory over Melbourne City was followed by an impressive 2-1 comeback win over Adelaide United last time out.
The Glory, who have proven to be deadly in attack, currently average three goals per game and top the league's scoring charts with 15 goals.
Bruno Fornaroli has been a standout performer for the hosts, and the striker has bagged four goals in his last five outings.
After an impressive second-place finish in the 2019-20 campaign, Melbourne City have endured a torrid start to the new season and look a shadow of their former self.
They are currently seated 10th in the A-League table, picking up six points from six games and suffering four defeats.
Kisnorbo's men are on the back of a three-game losing streak and have lost in four of their last five matches since the turn of the year.
After a disappointing home loss to Perth Glory, Melbourne City blew a two-goal lead to fall to a 3-2 defeat against the Mariners, before a shock 1-0 loss to league bottom Newcastle Jets.
Perth Glory will feel confident coming into this fixture as they have picked up five wins and two draws in their last 10 meetings with Melbourne City.
Their last clash saw the hosts cruise to a 3-1 win at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, where Daniel Stynes, Dane Ingham and Nick D'Agostino all ended on the scoresheet.
Perth Glory Australian A-League form: WLLWW
Melbourne City Australian A-League form: WLWLLL
Team News
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Both teams have a relatively clean bill of health coming into this clash, with only a few players guaranteed to be absent.
Perth Glory midfielder Chris Ikonomidis is still recovering from an ACL injury picked up last year, while Osama Malik will miss out through a shoulder injury.
Kerrin Stokes is expected to return to the fold for Melbourne City, potentially at the expense of new signing Nuno Reis, after serving his one-match suspension.
The visitors will be boosted by the return of defender Rostyn Griffiths, who is back to full fitness after a lengthy injury lay-off.
Perth Glory possible starting lineup:
Reddy; Ingham, Lachman, Aspropotamitis, Rawlins; Stynes, Timmins, Kilkenny, D'Agostino; Fornaroli, Keogh
Melbourne City possible starting lineup:
Glover; Jamieson, Good, Stokes, Garuccio; Tilio, Gomulka, Berenguer; Noone, Maclaren, Metcalfe
We say: Perth Glory 3-1 Melbourne City
Melbourne City are currently struggling to hit their stride and they take on an in-form Richard Garcia side who have proven to score at will this season. We expect the hosts to grab all three points unscathed, but the visitors should also be able to nick in a goal, considering Glory's poor defensive setup.
Top tip
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 Melbourne City win with a probability of 55.34%. A win for Perth Glory had a probability of 23.53% and a draw had a probability of 21.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Melbourne City win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.6%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (7.44%) and 0-1 (7.19%). The likeliest Perth Glory win was 2-1 (5.99%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (9.28%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Melbourne City would win this match.
