Western United host Melbourne Victory in the Australian A-League on Saturday morning, with both teams looking to build on their first victories of the season last time out.
Both teams inflicted defeats upon Perth Glory in their last outings and will be in a confident mood as a result coming into this one.
Match preview
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Mark Rudan's men put in an entertaining performance over the weekend, seeing off Perth 5-4 in an enthralling encounter.
Summer signing Victor Sanchez bagged his first goal for the club while Uruguayan right-back Dylan Pierias surprisingly popped up with a match-winning brace.
The AAMI Park outfit finished fifth in the 2019-20 standings, reaching the semi-finals before losing 2-0 to Melbourne City.
Western United will be hoping to go one better this time around and reach the showpiece event.
The club has never won the A-League title, and a victory over the weekend would reignite hope that this could finally be their year.
Melbourne Victory finished in a disappointing 11th position in the A-League table last season and will be desperate to put in a better showing this time around.
There has been a huge overhaul at the club over the summer, with eight incomings offsetting 14 departures following the appointment of new head coach Grant Brebner in the off-season.
The new signings were always going to take some time to settle into their new surroundings, and that was clearly evident after the Victory lost their opening two encounters.
However, a 2-1 win over Perth last time out will have lifted the mood at the AAMI Park Marvel Stadium and restored some confidence that was clearly absent in their early-season performances.
Three points would see them leapfrog their upcoming opponents in the table and give their playoff ambitions a significant boost.
Western United Australian A-League form: DLW
Melbourne Victory Australian A-League form: LLW
Team News
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Defender Joshua Risdon picked up a tibia injury in the defeat to Melbourne City earlier in the season and remains unavailable for Western United.
Former West Ham United forward Alessandro Diamanti is the main man for Rudan's side, but the 37-year-old has yet to find the back of the net so far in 2020-21 and will be desperate to get on the scoresheet on Saturday.
Melbourne defender Osama Malik and midfielder Christopher Oikonomidis are long-term absentees for Brebner, with the pair set to remain on the sidelines for some weeks yet.
The Victory brought several former Premier League players to the club over the summer, including Ryan Shotton, Rudy Gestede and Callum McManaman, but it was 22-year-old Jake Brimmer who bagged a brace in midweek, and the attacking midfielder is set to keep his place in the starting XI.
Western United possible starting lineup:
Kurto; Calver, Durante, Vujica; Imai, Lustica, Sanchez, Ushok, Pain; Diamanti, Berisha
Melbourne Victory possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Roux, Shotton, Ryan, Traore; Broxham, Butterfield; Lauton, Brimmer, Rojas; Kruse
We say: Western United 2-1 Melbourne Victory
Both teams will be confident of picking up a good result coming into this one, but we fancy the hosts to secure all three points. Western have a bit more quality up front, and it should prove to be the difference on Saturday.
Top betting 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 Western United win with a probability of 43.24%. A win for Melbourne Victory had a probability of 33.53% and a draw had a probability of 23.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Western United win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.89%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (6.94%) and 2-0 (5.96%). The likeliest Melbourne Victory win was 1-2 (7.71%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.34%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 4% likelihood.
