Sunday’s A-League 2016 Round 8 match is between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix. The opening kick off is set to commence at 17:07 local time with the game to be played at AAMI Park. The home team Melbourne City are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix.
Tim Cahill (pictured above) revealed he has a nagging Achilles injury which has caused him some discomfort recently.
Despite this, he managed to score his second goal of the season against the Wanderers on Friday.
The key tussle for City remains, how best to use Timmy so that they can get the best out of him whilst also looking after his body.
City had the weight of possession against the Wanderers and after going ahead, they looked in total control.
But Western Sydney pulled one back leaving Melbourne frustrated and looking to take that out on the Nix.
Wellington will be fresh after their Victory game was postponed and will need all their energy to keep City at bay.
Phoenix defeated the Mariners away in their last outing so they’ll be feeling confident they can get something out of this fixture as well.
Nix manager Ernie Merrick has called for video referees in the A-League and I’m all for it, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the flow of the game.
With trials due for late this season, it’ll be interesting to see what impact it will have in matches.
KEY BATTLE: Neil Kilkenny v Gui Finkler
Kilkenny has been a key man for City, either pushing into midfield or dropping into a back four.
He’ll come up against Gui Finkler (pictured above) who is no stranger to Melbourne having played for Victory the last four seasons.
The verdict
Both sides put an emphasis on attack so we should see goals in this one with City too strong at home.
Unibet Odds: Melbourne City 1.54 Draw 4.25 Wellington 6.00
Tip: Melbourne City
Correct score: Melbourne City 3-2
Teams:
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (gk), 2.Manny MUSCAT, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Osama MALIK, 8.Neil KILKENNY, 9.Nicolas COLAZO, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Bruce KAMAU, 12.Nick FITZGERALD, 17.Tim CAHILL, 18.Paulo RETRE, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI (c), 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Fernando BRANDAN.
Wellington Phoenix squad: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 2.Jacob TRATT, 4.Roly BONEVACIA, 5.Ryan LOWRY, 7.Gui FINKLER, 8.Alex RODRIGUEZ, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 11.Hamish WATSON, 12.Adam PARKHOUSE, 13.Marco ROSSI, 14.Alex RUFER, 16.Louis FENTON, 17.Vince LIA, 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 21.Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE (c), 23.Matthew RIDENTON.
