Perth Glory entertain Brisbane Roar in the Australian A-League on Friday morning as both sides look to maintain their solid starts to the new campaign.
The hosts last played on February 5 and will be hoping they can pick up where they left off after winning their last two outings, while Warren Moon's men will be looking to end a three-game winless run.
Match preview
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The Glory are sitting in eighth position in the top-flight standings after picking up nine points from their opening five league games.
Due to several postponements, Richard Garcia's side have four games in hand over some of their domestic rivals and will be confident of climbing up the division in the coming weeks.
The HBF Park outfit have been the A-League's most entertaining side in 2020-21. Twenty-seven goals have been scored in their five fixtures, and their 15-goal haul means they are the second-highest scorers despite playing the fewest games.
Garcia will know that there is likely to be some rustiness within his ranks after the lengthy layoff, but it may have given him time to work on Perth's defensive frailties, and that could make for an exciting prospect.
Brisbane made a fast start to the season, winning four of their first five fixtures. However, a recent poor run of form has seen them collect just two points from a possible nine.
A 0-0 draw with reigning champions Sydney FC last time out saw the Suncorp Stadium side fall four points behind league leaders Central Coast Mariners, albeit with a game in hand.
The Roar's success throughout the early stages of this campaign has been built on solid foundations. They have the joint-best defensive record in the division and have kept two clean sheets in a row.
Brisbane's back five will face one of their toughest tests of the season when they come up against this free-scoring Perth side, and the matchup should make for an intriguing encounter.
Perth Glory Australian A-League form: WLLWW
Perth Glory form (all competitions): LWLLWW
Brisbane Roar Australian A-League form: WWWLDD
Team News
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Garcia will be unable to call upon the services of utility man Osama Malik after the Australian picked up a shoulder injury.
He is joined on the treatment table by 25-year-old Chris Ikonomidis. The attacking midfielder is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines following an ankle problem.
Brisbane Roar have a clean bill of health coming into this one and are set to name a full-strength side as they seek all three points.
Moon will be hoping top scorer Dylan Wenzel-Halls can re-find his best form after going three games without registering a goal or an assist.
Perth Glory possible starting lineup:
Velaphi; Ingham, Lachman, Aspropotamitis, Sullivan; Castro, Kilkenny, Wilson, D'Agostino; Keogh, Fornaroli
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Gillesphey, Aldred, Trewin; Brown, O'Shea, Akbari, Hingert; Wenzel-Halls, Danzaki; McDonald
We say: Perth Glory 2-1 Brisbane Roar
This should be a very exciting encounter between two of the best sides in the Australian A-League. Brisbane have been struggling to score of late, something Perth never have trouble with, and we fancy the hosts to have too much firepower for the Roar and come away with all three points.
Top tip
George Cannon
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 38.94%. A win for Perth Glory had a probability of 35.84% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 0-1 with a probability of 8.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.55%) and 0-2 (6.24%). The likeliest Perth Glory win was 1-0 (8.26%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.88%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3.7% likelihood.
