Sydney have travelled here for an entertaining duel against the home side Melbourne City. Get smart on the match with this full A-League preview!
It's quite the trip for Sydney when visiting Melbourne City as the cities are 800 kilometers apart.
Both teams should be fairly well rested for this game, as they have had some quiet days to prepare. Hopefully this will translate into lots of action on the pitch.
Melbourne City form and stats
0 victories, 0 draws and 1 defeat. That’s what Melbourne City have to build on here at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in the A-League.
Melbourne lost their last game at Adelaide United (placed 1st) after a 0-6 scoreline. As you see from the result above, Melbourne City suffered greatly in their last game. Thankfully the team has a new chance to prove themselves in this one. Some supporters pointed their nail-bitten fingers at MacLaren for missing a penalty kick versus Adelaide United in the 55th minute. It's possible that a goal in that situation would have changed the outcome. Jakoliš, who usually plays near the opponent's goal, was the top player for the side in that game, collecting a rating of 7.1 (out of 10). Jakoliš hit one key pass and had 31 successful passes (of 35 total).
Before that game, a strong away victory at Buriram United. A AFC Champions League game. The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Melbourne have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found 7 games) they have won 4 times, drawn 1 and lost 2.
It's still early days, but we have some goal stats for the Melbourne City at home in the league. 1 on target and 2 scored by the opposition; from 1 match.
Sydney form and stats
The visitors' first away game in the A-League ended in defeat. Last season Sydney had these away match statistics: Played 13; won 6, drew 2 and lost 5.
Sydney are looking to quickly end their 296 minutes long goal drought in the A-League.
Sydney are travelling again after losing away to Brisbane Roar in their previous match (0-3). Midfield player Mak was the top player of the team with a match rating of 7.95/10. Mak hit three key passes, dribled past the opponent 4 of 6 times and had 43 successful passes (of 47 total).
The game before that, was lost at home, a 0-2 defeat against Melbourne Victory.{0 goals} so far away for Sydney, while their defence has allowed the opposition to score 3. All from 1 league match away.
Head 2 Head
Previous ten meetings between these sides: Melbourne won six, Sydney were winners in two and we saw two draws. eight games with over 2,5 goals, two matches with less than 2,5 goals. Maclaren likes to face Sydney and have scored 8 goals in these games.
Top Goalscorers
  T. Arslan 1 goals |
Melbourne City missing players
Sydney missing players
| Melbourne City | Sydney | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | Played | P | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Won | W | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Drew | D | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | Lost | L | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | Scored | S | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 2 | 0 | Conceded | C | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| 100% | 100% | 0% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| 100% | 100% | 0% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| 100% | 100% | 0% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 0% | 100% | 50% |
| 50% | 0% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 50% | 0% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 50% | 100% | 0% | BTTS | BTTS | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 50% | 0% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 0% | 100% | 100% |
| 1.5 | 2 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 5 | 5.5 |
| 3.5 | 4 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 4 | 3.5 |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14.5 | 16 | 0 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 0 | 19 | 20 |
| 4.5 | 7 | 0 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 11% | 14% | 0% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 15.5 | 16 | 0 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 0 | 14 | 16.5 |
| 5.5 | 4 | 0 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 0 | 8 | 7.5 |
| Melbourne City | Last season | Sydney | |||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 29 | 15 | Played | P | 15 | 29 | ||
| 17 | 11 | Won | W | 7 | 12 | ||
| 8 | 3 | Drew | D | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4 | 1 | Lost | L | 6 | 11 | ||
| 67 | 42 | Scored | S | 22 | 43 | ||
| 39 | 21 | Conceded | C | 22 | 45 | ||
| 97% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 100% | ||
| 93% | 93% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 80% | 79% | ||
| 69% | 87% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 60% | 59% | ||
| 52% | 67% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 40% | 41% | ||
| 31% | 40% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 13% | 21% | ||
| 76% | 73% | BTTS | BTTS | 60% | 59% | ||
| 24% | 27% | Clean Sheets | C S | 20% | 17% | ||
| 3% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 20% | 24% | ||
| 6.4 | 6.7 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5.5 | 5.6 | ||
| 3.9 | 3.3 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.6 | 4.9 | ||
| 2 | 1.7 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.7 | 1.8 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 6 | ||
| 16.9 | 17.4 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 14.5 | 15.5 | ||
| 6.2 | 6.9 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5 | 5.4 | ||
| 37% | 40% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 29% | 27% | ||
| 10.2 | 8.3 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 12.7 | 12.3 | ||
| 4.5 | 3.9 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.9 | 4.7 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Adelaide United | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 6 |
| 2 | Melbourne Victory | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | Brisbane Roar | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Macarthur | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | Wellington Phoenix | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Western United | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 3 |
| 8 | Perth Glory | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 1 |
| 9 | Newcastle Jets | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 1 |
| 10 | Central Coast Mariners | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -4 | 0 |
| 11 | Sydney | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -5 | 0 |
| 12 | Melbourne City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | -7 | 0 |
