Melbourne City FC and Western Sydney Wanderers are again set to do battle in the W-League, with City the home side this time around in what will be the side’s first game played out of Dandenong’s Frank Holohan Reserve.
With the Wanderers now out of Finals contention, Thursday represents a huge opportunity for City to rub salt into the wounds and snare some redemption against their opposition from two weeks ago.
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The clash
It’s not been a good run of form for Rado Vidosic’s side, with the team now on a four-game winless run that includes consecutive games without a goal in our two most recent fixtures.
City’s last match was against the Wanderers on the 25th of February, an encounter which finished 1-0 to the team in red and black. Despite the scoreline, City were unlucky to come away empty-handed, having dominated possession 57% to 43% with a much higher passing accuracy (70.7% to 54.3%) whilst also matching their opposition for shots (12 to 13).
Since securing the three points against City at home, Western Sydney have since suffered defeat to our crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory in another hotly-contested encounter that finished 1-0.
As a direct result of the loss, the Wanderers are no longer in Finals contention, with 10 points to show from their 10 games thus far.
City’s main focus coming into this game will be taking its chances when they are presented, with the W-League side having put together countless competitive performances but ultimately lacking cutting edge in the final third that may have swayed the final scoreline of several games this year.
Keeping a clean sheet is another very viable alternative given the opposition, with the City defensive unit coming close to achieving this last time out and the Wanderers failing to score in their follow-up match against Melbourne Victory. Teagan Micah has also been on fire between the sticks and will be looking to further stake her claim as the Matildas #1 with the Tokyo Olympics drawing nearer.
Team News
Rado has made two inclusions to his squad for Thursday night’s fixture.
Tyla-Jay Vlajnic is once again named after having served a one match suspension while Teigen Allen has also been added to the squad and is a chance to return from injury.
Melbourne City FC squad
1.Teagan MICAH (gk), 3. Teigen ALLEN, 5.Tori TUMETH, 6. Noor ECKHOFF, 8. Hollie PALMER, 9. Alex CHIDIAC, 10.Chinatsu KIRA, 11.Rhali DOBSON, 13. Sarah CAIN, 14.Margot ROBINNE, 15. Emma CHECKER (c), 17. Samantha JOHNSON, 18.Leah DAVIDSON, 19.Tyla-Jay VLAJNIC, 20. Lia MULDEARY, 21. Jenna McCORMICK, 22. Naomi THOMAS-CHINNAMA, 23.Melissa BARBIERI (gk).
In: 3. Teigen ALLEN (returns from injury), 19. Tyla-Jay VLAJNIC (returns from suspension).
Out: Nil.
Unavailable: 4. Chelsea BLISSETT (ACL), 12. Harriet WITHERS (injury), Sofia SAKALIS (ACL).
What was said?
“We’ve had two good weeks of really hard and smart training sessions. It’s been very useful to have this time to spend with the girls on the training pitch and we’ve been able to work on a few different things so we’ll see how it all plays out on Thursday.”
-Rado Vidosic
Match Details
Melbourne City FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
Thursday 11 March, kick-off 7.05pm
Frank Holohan Reserve
