Brisbane Roar play host to Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday with the opportunity to move ahead of their fourth-placed opponents in the A-League standings.
However, sitting level on points with two other teams, the visitors will move into second spot if they can end their five-match winless streak.
Match preview
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After a seven-match unbeaten streak, Brisbane Roar were stopped in their tracks on Sunday as they succumbed to a 3-2 defeat against leaders Melbourne City.
Roar lived up to their name by storming back from an early 2-0 deficit, only for Scott Galloway to net the decisive goal 17 minutes from time.
While Warren Moon was naturally disappointed with the end result, he will take the positives from another promising display from his squad, who are performing above their current mid-table spot.
The goals continue to be shared around their group of players with Macaulay Gillesphey and Joseph Champness netting their third and second strikes of the season respectively.
Despite the recent setback, Roar still have a game in hand on all of the teams above them, and they will remarkably go from seventh to second if they can prevail on Wednesday.
Although the Mariners possess the same target, they head into this encounter having emerged victorious in just one of their last nine fixtures.
However, Alen Stajcic's side will have had a 10-day break from action by the time that they take to the pitch for this contest, something which can only benefit them ahead of the run-in.
The Mariners have just one clean sheet to their name in 12 attempts, but Stajcic would have been satisfied with only conceding once in the draw at Melbourne Victory.
Matt Simon has scored three goals in his last five appearances, the veteran forward taking his tally to nine for the season.
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Team News
With just a three-day turnaround, Moon will consider making a number of changes to his Brisbane Roar XI.
Rahmat Akbari appears likely to come into midfield in place of Jesse Daley, while Dylan Wenzel-Halls will expect to get the nod in attack.
Despite their outings as substitutes last time out, Alex Parsons and Golgol Mebrahtu are expected to remain among the replacements.
After a break lasting a week-and-a-half, Stajcic may decide to name the same Mariners starting lineup.
Daniel Bouman is pushing for a return in midfield, although he will only be introduced into the team if Stajcic goes with a three-man midfield.
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Neville, Trewin, Gillesphey; Brindell-South, O'Shea, Akbari, Brown; Danzaki, Wenzel-Halls, Champness
Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:
Birighitti; Nigro, Tongyik, Rowles, Clisby; Nisbet, Bozanic, Stensness, De Silva; Kuol, Simon
We say: Brisbane Roar 2-1 Central Coast Mariners
Aware that this is the game which could change their season, we expect Roar to go all out for the three points.
While the Mariners are placed higher in the table, the visitors are struggling for belief, something which could contribute to their hosts securing a late victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Brisbane Roar win with a probability of 42.6%. A win for Central Coast Mariners had a probability of 31.83% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.81%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.92%) and 2-0 (7.22%). The likeliest Central Coast Mariners win was 0-1 (8.25%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.13%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood.
