The A-League season enters its third week on Friday night and five exciting fixtures lay ahead.
Western United’s strong start to the season continued via a hard-fought draw with last season’s benchmark the Perth Glory, but they will face their biggest test to date in crosstown rivals City, in what is also their first ever Derby.
Fresh off the bye, the Roar will host Melbourne Victory in Week 3’s opener in Brisbane on Friday night.
The Roar were probably outclassed in the nation’s west in Week 1 but remained in the contest and salvaged a point by netting an equaliser at the death. Perth is typically one of the A-League’s toughest road trips and I’m interested to see what they can do at home, and with improvement.
It was always going to be a work in progress for the new look, albeit still classy Melbourne Victory and it is fair to say they are yet to realise their potential. A shock loss to the Wanderers at home last weekend has left them winless in 2019/20, but I think they are another side that will improve from that hit-out.
Draws have already been prevalent, and I think that this match has that written all over it.
An intriguing contest takes us to the Hunter on Saturday afternoon and there is a case to be made for both the Jets and Adelaide recording their first win of the season, respectively.
Adelaide have weathered a tough start to the season. They drew the ever-dangerous Sydney FC first-up and were unlucky not to take anything from the five-goal thriller, before running into a credible Melbourne City away last week. They are a good side at their best and this looms as their best opportunity so far.
The Jets’ season began with a typically tough F3 Derby and they showed plenty of resolve to get back into the contest and ultimately take a point, having conceded only minutes into the contest. They will also improve and will be quietly confident of recording a win at home.
The match of the round looks like materialising on Saturday night when the Wanderers and Sydney FC meet for the twenty-third edition of the Sydney Derby. Both clubs have enjoyed competitive starts to the new season and will be eager to take bragging rights.
The Sky Blues are so-far 2-0, having beaten Adelaide in a Week 1 thriller, before taking all the points away from Wellington last weekend. They have recorded 12 wins over the Wanderers in competitive fixtures so far and deserve their warm favouritism here.
The Wanderers pulled off the upset of the season so far by beating the heavily fancied Victory in Melbourne last week and will enjoy good improvement into this match.
Regardless of form this is always a quality contest and I’m happy to sit on the fence in this one as well.
The winless Wellington Phoenix and Perth Glory will square off in New Zealand on Sunday afternoon.
The Phoenix weren’t great in Week 1, but first-up performances can always be forgiven, and they were far better against a good Sydney FC side last week. A return home is just what the doctor ordered, but they will need to improve again to contain this Perth Glory side, who do appear on the verge of re-finding a bit of that 2018/19 form.
Perth have so far recorded two draws from as many matches but will be confident of their chances ahead of what is probably their best opportunity of the new campaign so far. They were unlucky not to take all three points from the Brisbane Roar first-up, while they ran into a spirited Western United at home last week, who were playing in front of their home crowd for the first time.
Western United have enjoyed a terrific start to their competitive existence and will enter their first ever Derby as betting favourites.
An exciting win over Wellington first-up looked (understandably) somewhat patchy, but that performance and result was franked with another good effort to draw with the Perth Glory last week, on top of Wellington’s credible performance against Sydney FC. It appears as though Mark Rudan’s men are in for an excellent debut season and this match, with the added pressure will be a great test.
City have returned in competitive form of their own; drawing the Melbourne Derby before beating a fair Adelaide side at home last week. They are full of running and loom as a tough opposition for their newly founded opponents.
Tipping City to deliver their new crosstown rivals the first defeat of the season.