Melbourne City FC will be looking to re-write the club record books when we take on Western Sydney Wanderers at AAMI Park this Friday, with the home side looking to win six consecutive games for the first time ever.
Be there to witness this potentially history making fixture! Click here to get your tickets.
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The clash
Confidence couldn’t be higher amongst the City squad, who are coming off a comprehensive 2-0 victory over current league leaders Central Coast Mariners on Monday night.
Another win at home. 😎
Check out all the highlights of last night's win against the Mariners!#CmonCity | 🎟 https://t.co/HbhU3SIRcE pic.twitter.com/IKMA5cFOoz
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) March 23, 2021
It was Jamie Maclaren who once again stepped up to give his side the first-half lead, netting in his fifth-consecutive game and equalling the record goalscoring streak held by Ross McCormack from the 2017/18 season.
City dominated the first half and were unfortunate not to put more past Mark Birighitti, who denied the home side’s frontline on several occasions, but who was ultimately undone for a second time when Nathaniel Atkinson latched on to a deflected shot and finished intelligently past the Mariners keeper in the 56th.
It was a strong showing from the boys overall and it matched the level of performance that we’ve seen consistently over this five-game winning run. City fans will hence be confident of another impressive display when their side hosts Western Sydney this Friday night.
👏👏👏👏👏#CmonCity pic.twitter.com/NF1S71C4wv
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) March 22, 2021
The Wanderers have improved markedly over the past few weeks to go on a winning streak of their own, emerging victorious in their past three fixtures against Western United, Wellington and Perth since losing 2-0 to us at Bankwest.
Western Sydney put on a scintillating performance in their most recent fixture against Perth, having three first-half goals chalked off for offside and still managing to defeat the Glory 3-0 by the end of the match.
The Wanderers have been bolstered immensely by the return of spiritual leader Mitch Duke, so the City defensive unit will have to be at its best if we’re to ensure a fifth-consecutive clean sheet on Friday.
What was said?
“The way we play we obviously have a lot of the ball and it’s always a lot more enjoyable when you have the ball rather than when you’re defending. The results are going our way, we’re scoring lots of goals and keeping clean sheets so that all just makes it even more enjoyable.”
– Nathaniel Atkinson
Team News
Patrick Kisnorbo’s extended squad sees two inclusions for this fixture with striker Raphael Borges Rodrigues and defender Kerrin Stokes both promoted.
Kisnorbo also said in his pre-match press conference that defender Nuno Reis will train on Thursday and is still a chance to play despite being a first half substitute on Monday through injury.
Melbourne City FC squad
1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 3.Scott JAMIESON (c), 4.Nuno REIS, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER-BOHRER, 11.Craig NOONE, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 14.Naoki TSUBAKI, 15.Andrew NABBOUT, 17.Stefan COLAKOVSKI, 18.Connor METCALFE, 19.Ben GARUCCIO, 20.Adrian LUNA, 22.Curtis GOOD, 23.Marco TILIO, 33.Matthew SUTTON (gk), 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES, 36.Kerrin STOKES.
**2 to be omitted**
In: 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES (promoted), 36.Kerrin STOKES (promoted).
Out: Nil.
Unavailable: 8.Aiden O’NEILL.
Match Details
A-League Round 14
Melbourne City FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
AAMI Park
Friday 26 March, kick-off 7:05pm
