Another week, another five A-League matches on the schedule and vital competition points on the line.
Things are starting to become dire for the Perth Glory and they are charged with overcoming the second-placed Melbourne City away from home on Friday night.
Evidently, Melbourne is to the A-League on the Friday night as Brisbane is to Rugby League on a Friday night as once again, the round launches at AAMI Park.
Winning has become a habit for Melbourne City and they will enter this match refreshed and prior to that, a smart triumph over the Wanderers. They would still be sitting at the top of the table if not for the week off and Sydney FC winning, and they are deserving of their favouritism for this one.
Perth have not been a shadow of the side that should have won the whole thing last season, and they are staring down the barrel of a third-consecutive loss. I think it will happen.
An intriguing fixture takes us across the Tasman on Saturday afternoon and both the Phoenix and Wanderers will be eager for three competition points.
It is easy to write off the Wellington Phoenix – I do it nearly every week, but their recent form actually reads pretty well and there is no doubt that they are catching the Wanderers amidst a little dip in form. Last week’s win over Adelaide was easily their best performance of the season, and their draw with the Victory the week prior now looks better than previously thought.
The Wanderers flew the blocks but are now winless in their last four which has included three-consecutive losses leading into this. Last week’s at the hands of Newcastle was particularly damning, and they’ll need to improve to take something from this match.
I personally can’t split the two, so I’m happy to sit on the fence.
Betting suggests that the most one-sided match of the round will take place in Sydney on Saturday night, and it’s not hard to see why.
Sydney have returned to the competition in typically brilliant form this season and seized top spot on the ladder with another smart win over Western United, on the road. It’s tough imagining another side getting the better of them and it would take a herculean effort from the disappointing Roar to take anything this weekend.
The Roar bounced back into the winner’s stall last weekend, but it was at the expense of the lowly Mariners and I really don’t think that too much can be taken from it. This is an enormous step up in class from them, and I can’t imagine that they’ll compete effectively for 90 minutes.
The week’s penultimate fixture will peg Western United and the Victory against one another for another Melbourne Derby and surely at the beginning of the season, no one expected to see the former start as clear favourites in betting.
It has been a fair start to existence for Western United, but they are another club who has come crashing back down to earth in recent weeks and have lost three in a row, ahead of this. They did beat the Victory in their first meeting earlier in the season but would need to produce something similar to repeat that result.
The Victory have been very slow from the gates but did record a much-needed win over the Glory in Week 8 and that could be the base that they need to begin their climb up the ladder.
There is the potential for anything to happen here, but I’m actually eager to back the Victory at their current quote.
The weekend draws to a close in the city of churches and this match between Adelaide and Newcastle could prove to be Week 9’s highlight.
A smart run of form has been momentarily halted for Adelaide United, who suffered a shock defeat to the Phoenix in Wellington. Four smart wins prior have them in the top four, and if they can re-find any of that form, they’ll surely be winning this.
The Jets haven’t been awful recently and have won two in a row leading into this match, having comfortably seen off the Wanderers in Newcastle.
I currently have Adelaide finishing the regular season third and for that to happen, they’ll be winning matches like this one.