Adelaide United vs Melbourne Heart preview, tips and teams – 2014 A-League Round 26

Friday’s only A-League Round 26 match is between Adelaide United and Melbourne Heart. The opening kick-off is set to commence at 7.30pm AEDT. with the game to be played at Coopers Stadium. The home team Adelaide United are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Adelaide United and Melbourne Heart.

Round: Round 26, Friday April 5 at 7.30pm AEDT.
Stadium: Coopers Stadium
Head to head: Played: 11, Wins: Adelaide 5, Heart 2, Draws: 4
Previous encounter: Adelaide 2-2 Heart, January 25, 2015

Adelaide United $1.67 vs Melbourne Heart $5.00 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Adelaide United $1.72 vs Melbourne Heart $4.45 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison:

Adelaide United 1.67 1.70 1.72 1.70 1.67 1.67
Draw 3.80 3.75 3.65 3.75 3.80 3.75
Melbourne Heart 5.00 4.75 4.45 4.75 5.00 4.50

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Teams:

Adelaide United squad:logo
1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk) (c), 2.Michael MARRONE, 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 5.Osama MALIK, 7.JERONIMO, 8.ISAIAS, 9.Sergio CIRIO, 10.Marcelo CARRUSCA, 11.Bruce DJITE, 14.Cameron WATSON, 17.Awer MABIL, 18.Michael ZULLO, 20.Paul IZZO (gk), 21.Tarek ELRICH, 22.Fabio FERREIRA, 23.Jordan ELSEY, 25.Ryan KITTO, 32.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS
**Two to be omitted**
Ins: 7.JERONIMO (returns from injury), 9.Sergio CIRIO (returns from injury)
Outs: nil
Unavailable: 4.Jon McKAIN (quad 1 week), 6.CASSIO (hamstring tendon – indefinite)

 

Melbourne Heart FC squad:MelbournHeartLogo.png
1.Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 3.Robbie WIELAERT (C), 4.Orlando ENGELAAR, 6.Patrick GERHARDT, 7.Iain RAMSAY, 8.Massimo MURDOCCA, 13.Jonatan GERMANO, 15.David WILLIAMS, 16. Aziz BEHICH, 17.Jason HOFFMAN, 19.Benjamin GARUCCIO, 20.Tando VELAPHI (GK), 21.Stefan MAUK, 22.Nicholas KALMAR, 23.Mate DUGANDZIC, 24.Patrick KISNORBO, 28. Paulo RETRE
**One to be omitted**
Ins: 13.Jonatan GERMANO (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 10.Harry KEWELL (abdominal strain – one week)

Preview:

Form:
Past five matches:
Adelaide: WWDLW
Phoenix: LLDLW

The Game:

Adelaide’s 1-0 win away to Wellington Phoenix last Sunday, which came a day after Central Coast defeated Western Sydney and Melbourne Victory drew at home to Sydney FC, has seen the Reds come back into contention for a top-two finish. Josep Gombau’s side are fourth on the table, one point behind the Wanderers and two back from the Mariners. After this they go away to finals-chasing Newcastle in the last round of the season, and will be keen to get maximum points from a Heart team with nothing tangible to play for, other than avoiding the wooden spoon.

The big issue:

Adelaide – The Reds huffed and puffed without hitting their free-flowing best at Westpac Stadium last weekend. Jeronimo Neumann and Sergio Cirio were both absent due to minor injuries, the latter especially was missed as Michael Zullo toiled without reward on the left flank. Awer Mabil looked lively when he came on, but Gombau will hope for a more convincing attacking performance on home soil.

Heart – How badly do Heart want to avoid collecting the wooden spoon? They looked set to do so with some degree of comfort a few weeks ago, but Perth Glory’s late comeback at the expense of Newcastle Jets means the bottom two clubs are level on 25 points apiece. After Friday’s game Heart are at home to Western Sydney in Round 27, while Glory host Central Coast and then travel to take on Sydney FC. Avoiding the ignominy of bringing up the rear in 2013-14 may mean derailing another team’s end-of-season ambitions. Will it be Adelaide this weekend?

The game breaker:

Bruce Djite – The powerful centre-forward is a key component of Gombau’s gameplan. He is required to occupy the attention of one or sometimes both centre-backs, hold the ball and bring wide attackers or deeper midfielders into play. He struggled to do so against Wellington, with the likes of Fabio Ferreira, Cameron Watson and Zullo relatively subdued at the Cake Tin. Heart have two uncompromising central defenders in Patrick Kisnorbo and Robbie Wielaert. Djite must win the battle with that pair in order to provide his colleagues with the space to get forward and pick off the visitors.

Source: www.footballaustralia.com.au

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