Melbourne City FC will look to overcome a three-day turnaround between games when it faces Western Sydney Wanderers at CommBank Stadium in Round 14 of the Izuzu UTE A-League.
The team will hope to record a second-consecutive victory for the first time in Season 2021/22 as it looks to starting building some momentum towards a successful title defence.
Last time they were in action, the City boys put on a show in the final third as they secured a 4-2 away win over Newcastle Jets.
Jamie Maclaren was at the heart of things for City, scoring twice and assisting Mathew Leckie’s first league goal for the club, whilst a deflected Florin Berenguer strike opened scoring in the first half.
The Jets made City work hard for the victory in front of their home crowd at McDonald Jones Stadium, with Beka Mikeltadze and Angus Thurgate netting what would prove to be only consolation goals in the second half.
The City boys will need to quickly refocus again as they prepare for their next big test in Western Sydney Wanderers at CommBank Stadium.
The Wanderers have become a more defensively solid outfit under new head coach Mark Rudan, even if results have been mixed. They first securing a 1-0 win over Perth Glory before most recently suffering a loss at the hands of Western United by the same scoreline. Rudan’s side conceded a total of just 11 shots over that two-game period, an eight-shot-per-game improvement on their season average to that point.
If there’s one man who would be confident of derailing the Wanderers’ recent defensive improvement, however, it would be Jamie Maclaren.
The City #9 has scored more goals against Western Sydney than any other team, netting 18 in 17 meetings. He’s never failed to score in any of the six games he’s played against them in City blue, a period over which he is also yet to lose to the team in red and black.
Match Details
Izuzu UTE A-League: Round 14
Western Sydney Wanderers FC vs Melbourne City FC
Friday 11 February, kick-off 7:45pm
CommBank Stadium
