Western Sydney Wanderers vs Brisbane Roar preview, tips and teams – 2014 A-League Round 26

The second of Saturday A-League Round 26 matches is between Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar. The game is set to commence at 7.45pm AEDT with the game to be played at Pirtek Stadium. Home team Western Sydney Wanderers go into the match as the favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar.

Round: Round 26, Saturday April 5 at 7.45pm AEDT.
Stadium: Pirtek Stadium
Head to head: Played: 6, Wins: Wanderers 4, Roar 1, Draws: 1
Previous encounter: Wanderers 1-1 Roar, February 7 2014

Western Sydney Wanderers $2.40 vs Brisbane Roar $2.75 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

Western Sydney Wanderers $2.30 vs Brisbane Roar $3.00 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison:

Western Sydney Wanderers 2.40 2.37 2.30 2.37 2.40 2.38
Draw 3.30 3.35 3.20 3.35 3.30 3.20
Brisbane Roar 2.75 2.90 3.00 2.90 2.75 2.88

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

Teams:

Western Sydney Wanderers squad:Western Sydney Wanderers FC.png
1.Ante COVIC (gk), 2.Shannon COLE, 4.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY, 5.Michael BEAUCHAMP (c), 6.Jerome POLENZ, 7.Labinot HALITI 8.Mateo POLJAK, 9.Tomi JURIC, 10.Aaron MOOY, 11.Brendon SANTALAB, 13.Matthew SPIRANOVIC, 14.Kwabena APPIAH, 17.Youssouf HERSI, 18.Iacopo LA ROCCA, 19.Mark BRIDGE, 20.Jerrad TYSON (gk), 21.Shinji ONO, 22. Dean HEFFERNAN
**Two to be omitted**
Ins: 13.Matthew SPIRANOVIC (promoted), 7.Labinot HALITI (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: 3.Adam D’APUZZO (groin – 1 week), 12.Tahj MINNIECON (hip – indefinite), 34.Golgol MEBRAHTU (knee – indefinite)

 

Brisbane Roar squad:Brisbane roar.svg
1.Michael THEO, 2.Matthew SMITH (c), 3.Shane STEFANUTTO, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 8.Steven LUSTICA, 10.HENRIQUE, 11.Liam MILLER, 13.Jade NORTH, 14.Diogo FERRIERA, 15.James DONACHIE, 16.Jean Carlos SOLORZANO, 17.Matt McKAY, 18.Luke BRATTAN, 19.Jack HINGERT, 20.Matthew ACTON (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Dimitri PETRATOS, 26.Corey BROWN
**Two to be omitted**
Ins: 5.Ivan FRANJIC (returns from injury), 18.Luke BRATTAN (returns from injury), 26.Corey BROWN (returns from injury)
Outs: 7.Besart BERISHA (suspension – 1 week)
Unavailable: 25.George LAMBADARDIS (knee – season)

Preview:

Form:
Past five matches:
Wanderers: LWDLL
Roar: WWDWW

The Game:

Western Sydney’s season could be indelibly defined on Saturday night. Throughout the 2013-14 A-League campaign, Wanderers head coach Tony Popovic has rotated his squad, always looking ahead to the AFC Champions League (ACL) and, seemingly, very keen to be ready to go one step further than last season and win the domestic championship. But all that squad rotation could be for naught if the Wanderers lose to Brisbane in the penultimate round.

As the domestic campaign comes to a close, Western Sydney are stuttering with three defeats and a draw in their past five matches. In fact, the Wanderers have only won twice in eight games and both those victories have come against bottom club Perth Glory. Last week, Popovic’s men went down 2-1 to Central Coast Mariners, which saw the Wanderers drop to third. If Western Sydney are to win the championship they will almost certainly have to finish in the top two – no club has ever won the grand final after finishing third or lower – and only a victory will ensure the Wanderers remain in the hunt for second spot at the end of Round 26.

Western Sydney will take on the Roar on the back of two straight defeats. The loss to Central Coast was followed by a 2-1 defeat at Kawasaki Frontale in the ACL on Tuesday. By contrast, Brisbane head into the contest unbeaten in five games. Mike Mulvey’s Roar have won four of those matches to streak 12 points clear at the top of the table. The recently-crowned premiers trumped Melbourne Heart 2-1 last week despite Besart Berisha getting sent off for the third time this season.

The big issue:

Wanderers  – Will the ACL cost Western Sydney the toilet seat? Popovic has not really talked about the A-League championship this season but he appeared happy enough throughout this season to miss out on the premiership, if it meant his team were flying in the finals and in Asia. While the Wanderers have impressed in their inaugural Asian campaign, they are in danger of falling as low as sixth before the finals. A strong performance against the Roar at home would give Western Sydney some much-needed momentum ahead of the finals.

Roar – Western Sydney defeated Brisbane four times in their maiden season. Although the Roar are unbeaten against the Wanderers this season, the question remains; are Western Sydney Brisbane’s bogey team? Mulvey’s men gave up a lead in Parramatta in their last meeting with the Wanderers with Labinot Haliti scoring a late equaliser for the home side. For most of this season, many expected Brisbane to meet Western Sydney in the grand final. That may seem less likely now but Mulvey will surely want to put the bogey concept to bed on Saturday night.

The game breaker:

Dimitri Petratos – With Berisha suspended again, Mulvey will need one of his other attackers to step up at Pirtek Stadium. Berisha is the Roar’s leading goal-scorer this season with 11 goals but Brisbane need to get used to his absence either way, as the Albanian striker will join Melbourne Victory next season. Petratos scored his first goal in 11 matches last week to join Ivan Franjic and Henrique on five goals, second only to Berisha. The 21-year-old attacker has been very impressive in 2013-14 but could stake a claim to be Brisbane’s leading striker next season with a strong finish to this campaign.

Source: www.footballaustralia.com.au

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