Melbourne City Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar says his team is preparing for a crucial clash against Western Sydney Wanderers in Unite Round on Friday night.
City’s squad will be boosted by the return of attacker, Andrew Nabbout, who is back in the squad after sustaining a lengthy injury during pre-season.
“We’re bringing 19 and part of that 19 will be Andy Nabbout… he would’ve completed two weeks with the group [by game day] and pulling up pretty well, so it’ll be nice to have him around,” Vidmar said.
“He’s physically in pretty good shape, it’s just lack of game time obviously so he should easily do 30 minutes, we’ll just see how the game pans out and if there’s an opportunity to chuck him on, we can do that.”
Nabbout’s return comes after Marin Jakolis sustained a hamstring injury in City’s win over Western United on Sunday evening.
“Marin will definitely be out, he’s got a hamstring injury, and at this stage it’s somewhere around the four-week mark,” Vidmar added.
Friday night’s Unite Round clash is set to be a cracker, with both teams on equal points in third and fourth position on the table.
“[It’s an] absolutely crucial game for both teams, same points, they’re a good team, they’ve got a lot of good strengths, they’re pretty dangerous at set pieces, they’re good at building up and getting through lines, definitely well coached for sure and they’ve got some dangerous players,” Vidmar said.
“Dangerous players not just at the back but through midfield and up front so it’s a big game, for sure, but these are the types of games I’m sure that players look forward to.”
“For us, our focus is on how good are we going to be with the ball and how good are we at getting the ball from back to the front and then being able to penetrate and get some real high quality shots on goal.”
MATCH DETAILS
A-League Men: Round 12
Melbourne City FC v Western Sydney Wanderers
Friday 12 January, 8:15pm KO
CommBank Stadium
