Melbourne City FC vs Central Coast Mariners
KO: 7:30pm AEDT, Friday 8 November 2019
Venue: AAMI Park
Melbourne City FC will commemorate their 10-year anniversary against Central Coast Mariners at AAMI Park tonight.
Melbourne City – then Melbourne Heart – played their first ever A-League game against the Mariners, and will wear red and white to mark the occasion.
City, now top of the league after four rounds, have had one of their best starts to an A-League campaign in their first season under Erick Mombaerts.
City fielded five academy products against Wellington on Sunday, including a debut for exciting youth prospect Stefan Colakovski and a full-debut for striker Moudi Najjar.
Najjar held the line well on his first start for the club and will be hoping to build on his positive start with a goal.
Harrison Delbridge is expected to return after serving his one game suspension, and Javier Cabrera is back from injury.
Central Coast Mariners will be full of confidence after picking up their first win of the season against reigning Premiers Perth Glory.
The Mariners have performed well so far this season and arguably deserved their victory in Perth.
An inspired performance by Samuel Silvera was capped off with a fantastic solo goal. He will be optimistic of adding to his tally against a leaky City defence.
Alen Stajcic won the tactical battle against Tony Popovic and is once again expected to opt for a counter-attacking approach at AAMI Park.
Score prediction: Melbourne City FC 3-2 Central Coast Mariners
Players to watch: Denis Genreau (Melbourne City FC), Samuel Silvera (Central Coast Mariners)
Newcastle Jets vs Perth Glory
KO: 5:00pm AEDT, Saturday 9 November 2019
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium
Newcastle’s abysmal start to the A-League continued against Sydney last weekend as they crumbled to a 4-1 defeat.
Matthew Millar has been one of the only positives to eventuate from the Jets opening three fixtures and has managed to register one goal and one assist.
Ernie Merrick will have to consider making wholesale changes to the starting lineup. Newcastle are searching for their first win since beating Edgeworth Eagles in round 16 of the FFA Cup.
Meanwhile, Perth Glory will be avid to get back to winnings ways after suffering a shock loss to the Mariners.
An individual error by substitute Jacob Tratt cost Glory dearly as they succumbed to their first home loss since last year’s grand final.
The Glory have struggled defensively and have conceded five times in their opening four fixtures. Tony Popovic will be without centre back Osama Malik for the next 2-3 weeks, but is boosted by the return of Tomislav Mrcela.
Score prediction: Newcastle Jets 0-2 Perth Glory
Players to watch: Matthew Millar (Newcastle Jets), Neil Kilkenny (Perth Glory)
Western United vs Western Sydney Wanderers
KO: 7:30pm AEDT, Saturday 9 November 2019
Venue: GMHBA Stadium
Western United laid down a marker against Melbourne Victory on Saturday night and proved that they are more than capable of a top six finish.
Scott McDonald rolled back the years with an eye-catching performance at the Marvel Stadium and scored his first ever A-League goal.
Italian import Alessandro Diamanti also netted his first goal for United as they came back from two goals down to take bragging rights west.
Western United goalkeeper James Delianov has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos has been named in Western United’s squad for the first time.
Western Sydney Wanderers dropped their first points this season after a drab 0-0 draw with Brisbane Roar. Markus Babbel will be delighted where the Wanderers sit on the ladder after four rounds, but will be expecting a better performance this time out.
Daniel Lopar has been the Wanderers top performer in recent games producing outstanding performances against both Sydney and Brisbane. However, the Wanderers will want Lopar to have a quiet day against United.
Nicolai Muller may be in line for his first start in a Wanderers jersey and played the last half an hour against Brisbane in Western Sydney.
Matthew Jurman will not travel to Geelong, being left out of the squad due to a groin injury.
Score prediction: Western United 1-0 Western Sydney Wanderers
Players to watch: Scott McDonald (Western United), Daniel Lopar (Western Sydney Wanderers)
Melbourne Victory vs Wellington Phoenix
KO: 4:00pm AEDT, Sunday 10 November 2019
Venue: AAMI Park
Marco Kurz and Ufuk Talay are set to battle at AAMI Park on Sunday afternoon. Both sides have had a sluggish opening four rounds to the season, and will be keen to kick start their campaign.
Ola Toivonen is a major doubt for the clash after picking up a knock against Western United. Victory can ill afford to lose another key player to injury with Andrew Nabbout, Robbie Kruse and Tim Hoogland already out.
Storm Roux has had a poor start to the 2019/20 season and will be determined to produce a good performance in front of a skeptical Victory fanbase.
Wellington Phoenix were on the wrong end of a VAR blunder against Melbourne City last weekend and will want to force a change to their fortunes.
The Phoenix remain pointless heading into Remembrance Round, however, will be optimistic of picking up a result against a depleted Victory squad.
Gary Hooper got off the mark for Wellington in round 4 with a typical poachers finish, and Ben Waine scored his first professional goal for the Nix against City.
Cameron Devlin and Liberato Cacace return to the squad after serving their suspensions.
Can Wellington pick up their first point of the season or will Victory get their first home win?
Score prediction: Melbourne Victory 1-1 Wellington Phoenix
Players to watch: Storm Roux (Melbourne Victory), Gary Hooper (Wellington Phoenix)
Adelaide United vs Brisbane Roar
KO: 6:00pm AEDT, Sunday 10 November
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Adelaide United return to Coopers Stadium for the first time since their triumphant 4-0 victory over Melbourne City in the FFA Cup final.
James Troisi is expected to play his first home game for Adelaide United after producing a solid performance away to Newcastle in round 3.
Riley McGree has begun the season in lightning form – netting two against Newcastle – taking his tally in the A-League to three goals in three games.
Once again, all eyes will again be on hotshot Al Hassan Toure after it was rumoured that he had pledged his international allegiance to Australia.
Robbie Fowler’s men have scored once and conceded twice so far in the 2019/20 league season. Their games have involved fewer goals than any other team by four goals (the next lowest Western Sydney with seven).
The Roar need to improve their shooting efficiency, having shot 48 times in three games. This included 20 shots against the Wanderers in round 4.
Will Brisbane break their drought in front of goal?
Score prediction: Adelaide United 2-0 Brisbane Roar
Players to watch: James Troisi (Adelaide United), Stefan Mauk (Brisbane Roar)
BYE – Sydney FC
