Author: Andrew Costigan
On Saturday the 5th of November an undefeated Melbourne City will take on 10th-placed Perth Glory.
Last season the two sides went head to head thrice, the first being a late win for City from former favourite son Natty Atkinson, followed by a 2-2 draw and then a 2-0 win for the Glory over in the West. Both teams come into this match off the back of disappointing games last week (how nice is it to sit atop the table and be able to call a 2-2 draw a disappointment?), with Ruben Zadkovich's side going down 2-1 to Adelaide United.
Melbourne City’s first half against the Wellington Phoenix was nothing short of superb. Between Tom Glover's split-second saves, Jamie Maclaren's penalty goal, and the Leckie-Tilio stunner, our boys had been looking unstoppable for the game and the season to that point. Unfortunately, a VAR call not going our way was the turning point and things went downhill from there.
Now we move on to our next target Perth Glory, a team that has always proven to be a tough customer for City to deal with in the past. We all know JMac will fire up against his former employer and I'm sure Paddy K will have the boys similarly fired up after last week. We could also see the return of fan favourite Nuno Reis after Thomas Lam was dismissed in our last game.
Perth's season so far has looked a bit gloomy, from disappointing performances on the pitch to behind-the-scenes turmoil, the club seems to be in a disarray. Earlier this week the departure of striker Bruno Fornaroli was the end of a messy saga in which the striker seemed not to be able to get a game this season.
The Glory are coming into this one on the back of a loss to Adelaide United, who are always a tough opposition to come away with any points from. Perth has conjured up just one win from four games so far, but I wouldn’t count them out as sides are always hungry to prove themselves against City and bring their best games.
I suspect our boys will be ready and fired up to get the result this week after last week’s slip-up. I am predicting a comfortable 3-0 win with J-Mac, Leckie and Valon Berisha getting his much-deserved maiden goal. I think our boys will prove too strong for the Glory even if we have struggled to put them away in recent encounters.
Now, this is Melbourne City’s last home game before the World Cup break, so I urge everyone to get down to AAMI Park at 5pm on Saturday. Perfect time, great weather, let's get a good crowd in to see this wonderful team and farewell any Socceroos who may be heading off to Qatar.
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