Sydney FC will be aiming to make it three consecutive wins for the first time this season when they host Melbourne Victory in the latest edition of 'The Big Blue' at the Leichhardt Oval on Saturday.
In stark contrast, their visitors come into this tie on the back of three straight defeats, and they will be looking to get their season up and running by grabbing all three points.
Match preview
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Sydney ended their four-game winless run with a 2-0 home win over Western United last Wednesday.
Steve Corica's men made it two wins from two as they fought back from one goal down to claim a 2-1 win over Newcastle Jets last time out.
Milos Ninkovic cancelled out Luka Prso's 21st-minute opener, before veteran defender Alex Wilkinson scored in the 80th minute to complete the comeback and condemn the Jets to a third straight loss.
The Sky Blues' resurgence has now seen them move into the playoff places, after Macarthur and Brisbane Roar fell to respective defeats last time out.
On the other hand, Melbourne Victory failed to put an end to their losing streak last time out as they suffered a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Adelaide United.
Jake Brimmer gave the hosts the lead in the 28th minute, but the Reds replied with three goals of their own to turn the game on its head.
Grant Brebner's men have now lost three games on the bounce, including a 6-0 mauling in the Melbourne derby, and have picked up just two wins in 11 games since the turn of the year.
With seven points from 33, they are firmly rooted at the bottom of the table, four points adrift of 11th-placed Newcastle Jets.
While the Melbourne outfit will look to end this poor run on Saturday, they take on a Sydney side who have picked up five wins from their last five meetings.
Their last encounter came back in March 2020, when the Sky Blues came from one goal down to grab an emphatic 4-1 win.
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Team News
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Sydney have a relatively clean bill of health heading into Saturday's clash, with only a few injury concerns in the squad.
Trent Buhagiar is ruled out with a knee injury, while Australian-born midfielder Anthony Caceres is a doubt after he was subbed off in the 78th minute with a slight injury last time out.
The visitors, meanwhile, will be without defenders Ryan Shotton and Dylan Ryan, who will miss out through groin and knee injuries respectively.
They are joined on the treatment table by Marco Rojas, who is expected to miss between six to eight weeks with a fractured fibula.
Sydney FC possible starting lineup:
Redmayne; King, Warland, Wilkinson, Grant; Brattan, Baumjohann, Ninkovic, Caceres; Barbarouses, Buhagiar
Melbourne Victory possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Traore, Ansell, Anderson, Roux; Broxham, Butterfield; Kruse, Brimmer, McManaman; Folami
We say: Sydney FC 3-1 Melbourne Victory
While the visitors continue to struggle this season, the hosts look to have found their feet in recent weeks. Sydney have a solid record against Brebner's men, and considering their resurgence, we fancy them to comfortably grab the win on Saturday.
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 Sydney FC win with a probability of 59.36%. A draw had a probability of 22.1% and a win for Melbourne Victory had a probability of 18.56%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sydney FC win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.39%) and 2-1 (9.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.47%), while for a Melbourne Victory win it was 0-1 (5.53%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 11% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Sydney FC in this match.
