FTS A-League Round 3 Preview: Melbourne Derby

Melbourne Victory will plays hosts to cross-town rivals Melbourne City in the season’s first Melbourne Derby at Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening.

The fixture, which is expected to attract over 47,000 fans, is the first derby with the newly rebranded Melbourne City. There is little doubt that it will be a fiery encounter as both sides attempt to assert themselves as the dominant force in the competition.

Heading into the game, City have been rocked by news of the impending early departure to guest signing David Villa, and more injury reports concerning international marquee Robert Koren. However, their star Australian signings – the likes of Aaron Mooy and Eric Paartalu – will be hoping to ensure City fans that they can bag the points even in the absence of international star-power in the wake of their 1-1 home draw to Newcastle Jets last week.

For the Victory, a 1-1 away draw with Adelaide could be seen as positive, but left many Victory fans perplexed as to why they could not replicate their opening round performance – the 4-1 win over the Wanderers – against the Reds. A derby gives them a perfect opportunity to right last week’s wrongs.

A huge sell-out crowd of over 45,000 is expected for Saturday Night’s match at Etihad stadium.

Eyes On… David Villa: Who else? The Spanish World Cup winner has already earned his side two points this season with game-saving strikes against Sydney and Newcastle. City’s attack, which has lacked the finished product so far this season, will rely on him to lead the attack on inexperienced Victory right-back Jason Geria in the ex-Barcelona striker’s second-last game before he heads back to New York.

Form Guide: Melbourne Victory: W W D W D        Melbourne City: D L W D D

Head To Head: Played: 12. Melbourne Victory 4. Draw: 4. Melbourne City: 4.

Last Meeting:  1 March 2014 at AAMI Park: Melbourne City 4-0 Melbourne Victory

Absentee List

Melbourne Victory: Nick Ansell – Foot injury (2 weeks), Jason Geria – Ankle (1 week)

Melbourne City: Robert Koren – Calf injury (4 weeks), Connor Chapman (indefinite), Jonatan Germano – Calf injury (2-5 weeks), Ben Garuccio – Ankle injury (2-5 weeks).

Melbourne Victory (probable): Coe; Galloway, Leijer, Delpierre, Georgievski; Valeri, Finkler, Milligan(c); Barbarouses, Berisha, Thompson

Melbourne City (probable): Redmayne; Hoffman, Kisnorbo, Wielaert, Ramsay; Murdocca, Mooy, Paartalu; Duff, Williams, Villa

Prediction: Melbourne Victory 2-2 Melbourne City

David Villa will get on the scoresheet, but it remains to be seen how many times. However, Victory have undisputed class up forward – despite it not firing on all cylinders against the Reds. Obviously, they will have extra motivation to correct these mistakes in a huge derby game backed by their home crowd.

Defensively though, Victory could find themselves lacking as they did against Adelaide, so a high-scoring 2-2 draw seems a likely result.

FTSAUS Fact:

David Williams and Archie Thompson the only active players left tied for the Melbourne Derby goal-scoring record (3).

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