After a disappointing opening two weeks to the season, the Sky Blues will look to earn their first points against a struggling Melbourne City side, also without a win.
The teams last faced off in a cup clash in late September, where Sydney FC defeated last year’s A-League Premiers 2-1 in a thrilling back and forth affair.
Sydney FC will want a similar performance, where they dominated possession, often breaching the Melbourne City defence through creative passes and strong runs down the left side of the defence.
However, the Sky Blues will need to rise to the occasion after their previous performance against Brisbane Roar saw them unable to gain points or a goal in a 3-0 loss.
The game saw some promising attacking flare, especially from Robert Mak, and a handful of solid saves from Andrew Redmayne. Still, the Sky Blues must rise to beat the Melbourne outfit who parted company with their Head Coach Rado Vidosic this week, leaving Aurelio Vidmar in charge for the remainder of the campaign.
The Sky Blues will welcome back Corey Hollman and Socceroo Joel King as both players return after an injury.
However, they will miss Jack Rodwell, with his hamstring injury for another two weeks. Nathan Amanatidis will remain on the sidelines with a groin injury.
For Melbourne City, the reigning Premiers have had a lacklustre start to their A-League campaign, losing to Western United 2-1 in the opening round and 6-0 to Adelaide United last week.
Against Sydney FC, City will miss Andrew Nabbout after he gained a season-ending Achilles injury and Arion Sulemani after he tore his ACL. Mathew Leckie is still recovering from a knee injury and is doubtful to play. They will hope that James Nieuwenhuizen’s fitness is good enough as he sustained a hamstring injury in training.
Key Match-Up
Two stars of the Socceroos, Jamie Maclaren and Andrew Redmayne, will go head-to-head on Friday night.
Redmayne will have to rise to the solid finisher to deny him the opportunity to add to that tally.
Redmayne has played consistent minutes in both Sydney FC’s Australia Cup and A-League campaigns, demonstrating his agility and reflexes.
Our number one will have to repeat a similar performance to the Australia Cup Semi-Final, where he saved seven goal attempts, two on target against the City attack.
Maclaren may find it difficult to build conscore against the Sky Blue keeper after he missed a penalty last week against Adelaide United and has yet to find the back of the net this A-League season.
With both these players looking to improve their form, fans must look out for this rivalry.
Match Details
Melbourne City vs Sydney FC
Isuzu UTE A-League Round Three
Friday 3rd November, 2023
AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC
Kick Off: 7:45pm AEDT
Broadcast Live: Paramount+
Tickets: Click here
