The roles of these two sides have reversed in the space of 12 months as Perth Glory aim to claw back some ground on runaway Hyundai A-League leaders Sydney FC.
The roles of these two sides have reversed in the space of 12 months as Perth Glory aim to claw back some ground on runaway Hyundai A-League leaders Sydney FC.
After 18 matches of the 2018/19 season, Tony Popovic’s Glory were the side setting the standards while running up a seven-point advantage at the top of the competition ladder.
Head Coach Steve Corica’s third-placed Sydney FC were doing their best to play catch-up having fallen off the pace earlier in the campaign, but we all know how that story ended – with the Sky Blues toppling the Western Australians on their own soil in the Grand Final.
The reigning Premiers still have not extracted any revenge from that pain-staking night at Optus Stadium and Sydney FC dug the knife in deeper with a 3-1 triumph at HBF Park in Round 7.
Now back in fourth place following a 3-2 loss against Melbourne City last week, Glory need a spark to build some momentum as they head towards the Finals Series seeking to avenge last year’s heartache.
A statement win over the SkyBlues would be a step in the right direction, although another crushing loss would leave doubts over their Championship aspirations.
Similarly, three points for the 10-point leaders would keep them looking indestructible heading towards the business end of the season.
Saturday, 14 March 2020
Kick off: 5.00pm AEDT
Venue: Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Broadcast: FOX Sports 505, ABC TV
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports, ABC iView
How to follow the action
Match centre: Live updates, videos and statistics
Follow @SydneyFC on Twitter and join the conversation using #SYDvPER #SydneyIsSkyBlue
Team news
Sydney FC squad: 1.Andrew REDMAYNE (gk), 2.Patrick FLOTTMANN, 3.Ben WARLAND, 4.Alex WILKINSON (c), 5.Alex BAUMJOHANN, 6.Ryan McGOWAN, 7.Michael ZULLO, 8.Paulo RETRE, 9.Adam LE FONDRE, 10.Milos NINKOVIC, 11.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 12.Trent BUHAGIAR, 16.Joel KING, 17.Anthony CACERES, 18.Luke IVANOVIC, 20.Thomas HEWARD-BELLE (gk), 21.Harry VAN DER SAAG, 23.Rhyan GRANT, 24.Marco TILIO, 26.Luke BRATTAN.
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 2.Patrick FLOTTMANN (promoted), 7.Michael ZULLO (return from injury), 18.Luke IVANOVIC (return from injury).
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Nil
Did you know?
- Sydney FC have won 12 of their last 13 Hyundai A-League matches against Perth Glory (L1), they have scored an average of 2.8 goals per game in that span.
- Glory will be out to avoid back-to-back defeats away from home in the Hyundai A-League for the first time since losing five on the bounce from December 2017 to February 2018 after a 2-1 loss to Newcastle Jets in their last away game.
- The Sky Blues have scored the opening goal of the game on 13 occasions this Hyundai A-League season – the most of any team – and have gone on to pick up 12 wins and one draw from those fixtures.
- Sydney FC are the only Hyundai A-League team against whom Glory skipper Diego Castro has played more than once and is yet to score a goal (13 games). In fact, he’s neither scored a goal nor made an assist against the Sky Blues in the competition and created just 1.2 scoring chances per game against them.
