Melbourne City bounced back from its defeat at home to Newcastle with a convincing 4-2 victory against current cellar dwellers Adelaide United.
The usual suspects did the damage, with Aaron Mooy scoring a sumptuous strike and Bruno Fornaroli netting a double.
They now face a Western Sydney side that claimed a narrow and controversial win over Newcastle at Hunter Stadium, sneaking back into the top six in the process.
City’s biggest test will come in midfield against the likes of Mitch Nichols and Dario Vidosic without Mooy, though young pair Jacob Melling and Stefan Mauk have been impressing in recent weeks.
“Even thought he’s not there, we still have a strong enough squad to get the three points,” Melling said.
He’s definitely an asset to our team but I think with the other players that we have there, we are very capable of picking up the three points and doing the things we’ve been doing.
“It’s always hard to replace a player like him but I’m still very confident in the side we have.
“Our midfield is quite versatile and we have good enough players to come in when they’re not playing so it’s good to have the competition in the midfield and I think it’s important in keeping the squad strong.”
One of the more interesting narratives to come out of the game will be how Andrew Redmayne face up against his former employers, after breaking into the City first team before being displaced by Tando Velaphi and subsequently released.
Elsewhere, both Corey Gameiro and Harry Novillo are on their way to full fitness and will continue to add greater attacking threat to the City lineup, while Aaron Hughes may also be in line for a debut.
Whilst Wanderers’ marquee man Federico Piovaccari has been struggling to fire up front, City have been both scoring and leaking goals at a high rate, so the clash could be another high-scoring encounter.
Key match-ups
Bruno Fornaroli vs Nikolai Topor-Stanley
The league’s top scorer with five goals, Fornaroli is agile and quick along the front third. Topor-Stanley will have the key responsibility of trying to keep City quiet up forward, but may find that task difficult against the Uruguayan.
Erik Paartalu vs Mitch Nichols
Erik Paartalu recently attributed being dropped to forcing him to work harder, and a big test comes this week against former Brisbane Roar teammate Mitch Nichols. The attacking midfielder scored the winner last week and Paartalu’s job will be to make sure he isn’t afforded time and space on the ball.
Predicted line-up
SUBS: Velaphi (GK), Novillo, Hughes, Trifiro, Clisby
Predicted score:
A 1-1 draw with City missing Mooy’s absence in midfield.