Melbourne City won’t have to wait long to bounce back from Sunday afternoon’s loss to Western Sydney.
The team were straight off to the airport following that clash, heading to Adelaide in preparation for a fixture against the Reds at ServiceFM Stadium on Wednesday night.
Here’s a few things to keep an eye out for when our City Women look to return to winning ways!
Three-day turnaround
After enjoying a 10 day lay-off in between the Perth Glory and Western Sydney games, Melbourne City will now have only three days to rest up before it laces up the boots for a clash against Adelaide United.
Having taken some key lessons out of the loss to the Wanderers on Sunday afternoon, the side will now have the chance to quickly put them into action as it looks to come away with the full three points.
The short turnaround may mean Head Coach Dario Vidosic will opt to rotate the squad, opening the door for the likes of Karly Roestbakken and Emma Checker to make their returns to the starting side.
Both are yet to start a fixture this season after beginning the year sidelined (Checker also suffering an untimely bout of illness), but have been working hard in recent week’s to return to 100%.
An Adelaide side desperate for a home win
Dating back to the end of last season, Adelaide United has lost four of its last five matches at home in the A-League Women.
That being said, it may be a slightly misleading stat given two of those losses came against a strong Sydney FC side, one was in a semi-final against Melbourne Victory and the other came earlier this season against top of the table Western United.
Regardless, they’ll be desperate for a home win given the last time they lost more consecutive games as the home team was over five years ago.
The visiting City side will certainly be hoping to heap more pain on United, also desperate for a win to try and avoid back-to-back losses for the first time this season.
City attack v Adelaide defence
City currently lead the rest of the competition for goals scored in the 2022/23 season, racking up 18 goals in just seven games. The side currently averages 2.57 goals a game, with Rhianna Pollicina, Emina Ekic and Maria Jose Rojas all leading the way with four goals each.
Comparatively, Adelaide have struggled in front of goal this season, netting just the five goals which leaves them with the third worse record in the league.
City have already shown this year that it can pile on the goals if given enough possession and space to run, but given a lot of that dynamic attacking play came with Ekic and Rojas in the line-up, Vidosic’s side will be looking to show on Wednesday that it’s still capable no matter who is on the pitch.
