Saturday’s A-League Round 13 match is between Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets. The opening kick is set to commence at 14:20 local time with the game to be played at AAMI Park. The home team Melbourne Victory are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets.
When: Saturday 12th January, 7:50PM
Where: AAMI Park
Bet: Bet On This Match HERE
Preview:
The Victory used a 0-1 win over the Jets earlier in the season to kick off a run that has seen them climb to second position on the A-League table. The key to defeating the Victory as Adelaide United did on Wednesday night (2-0) is to start the game with energy, urgency and purpose. Marko Kurz used a very high press which was also effective when the Victory played Sydney FC early in the season (although Melbourne did eventually win that game).
Kevin Muscat explained that the Victory were tired and that he thought a loss would be around the corner after the game against Adelaide. There is still plenty of quality in the Victory side, even with the injuries to key players. The Jets have conceded twice in each of their last 3 games with Ernie Merrick’s suffering a grand final hangover of epic proportions with 3 wins from their 12 games.
The Wolf thinks that the Victory will bounce back at home.
Odds:
Tip: Melbourne Victory at $1.91
Correct Score: Melbourne Victory 2-1 at $7.50
Teams:
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Matt ACTON (GK), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Corey BROWN, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 7.Kenny ATHIU, 8.Terry ANTONIS, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.James TROISI, 11.Ola TOIVONEN, 13.Birkan KIRDAR, 14.Tommy DENG, 15.Raul BAENA, 16.Josh HOPE, 19.Rahmat AKBARI, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (GK), 21.Carl VALERI (C), 24.Elvis KAMSOBA, 25.Anthony LESIOTIS **two to be omitted**
Ins: 13.Birkan KIRDAR (promoted), 25.Anthony LESIOTIS (promoted)
Outs: Nil
Unavailable: Jai INGHAM (quad – TBC), Keisuke HONDA (Hamstring – 4 weeks), Nick ANSELL (Hamstring – TBC), Georg NIEDERMEIER (Calf – TBC)
Newcastle Jets squad: 1.Glen MOSS (gk), 3.Jason HOFFMAN, 4.Nigel BOOGAARD (c), 6.Steven UGARKOVIC, 7.Dimi PETRATOS, 8.Jair, 9.Roy O’DONOVAN, 11.Mitch AUSTIN, 13.Ivan VUJICA, 14.Kaine SHEPPARD, 16.Nick COWBURN, 17.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI, 18.Johnny KOUTROUMBIS, 20.Lewis ITALIANO (gk), 22.Lachlan JACKSON, 23.Matthew RIDENTON, 32.Angus THURGATE, 44.Nikolai TOPOR-STANLEY **two to be omitted**
Ins: 1.Glen MOSS (gk) (return from injury), 11.Mitch AUSTIN (promoted), 13.Ivan VUJICA (promoted), 32.Angus THURGATE (promoted)
Outs: 10.Ronald VARGAS (suspension – 1 week), 40.Noah JAMES (gk) (not selected)
Unavailable: 5.Ben KANTAROVSKI (groin – 4 weeks), 24.Joe CHAMPNESS (foot – TBC)
*Odds correct at time of posting. Subject to change
