Western Sydney Wanderers entertain Newcastle Jets in the Australian A-League on Friday morning as both sides aim to build on impressive victories last time out.
The hosts saw off the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 in midweek, while the visitors picked up their first points of the season via a 2-1 win over Wellington Phoenix on Sunday.
Match preview
Carl Robinson's men are currently sitting in third position in the A-League table after accumulating seven points from their opening four league games.
Robinson arrived at the Bankwest Stadium over the summer, after leaving the Jets, and oversaw a huge overhaul of the playing squad.
Seven new arrivals, including former Rangers midfielder Graham Dorrans and ex-Cardiff City man Jordon Mutch, replaced 13 players who faced the exit door.
The raft of changes appears to have worked so far for Robinson, though, as the Welsh head coach aims to improve on the Wanderers' ninth-placed finish in 2019-20.
Another three points on Friday would send Western Sydney Wanderers top ahead of the weekend's fixtures and pile the pressure on their title rivals.
Newcastle Jets are yet to appoint a permanent replacement for Robinson, and caretaker manager Craig Deans has struggled since taking on the position.
However, the 46-year-old recorded his first victory of the season over the weekend, bringing an end to the Jets' four-game losing run that had opened their 2020-21 campaign.
The victory over Wellington last time out saw them leapfrog their opponents in the top-flight standings and move off the foot of the table.
It seems as though it will be a year where the McDonald Jones Stadium outfit consolidates and re-groups, but a victory over the Wanderers could dramatically change that outlook, and Deans will be hoping his men can build some momentum and continue their rise up the division.
Western Sydney Wanderers Australian A-League form: LWDW
Newcastle Jets Australian A-League form: LLLLW
Team News
The Wanderers will once again be without 33-year-old goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic, who is a long-term absentee.
Mutch will be hoping to make his first appearance of the season, while former Nottingham Forest striker Simon Cox is still searching for his first goal of 2020-21.
Deans has the luxury of a fully-fit squad to choose from for this encounter, and he will want to keep faith with the same starting XI that secured the three points against Wellington.
That means the strike partnership of Valentino Yuel and Roy O'Donovan are set to start up front again after the pair both bagged in the 2-1 victory.
Western Sydney Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Margush; Aquilina, Mourdoukoutas, Natta, Gordon, Russell; Dorrans, Troisi, Baccus; Ibini-Isei, Cox
Newcastle Jets possible starting lineup:
Duncan; O'Toole, Topor-Stanley, Boogaard, Koutroumbis, Hoffman; Thurgate, Najjarine, Ugarkovic; O'Donovan, Yuel
We say: Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 Newcastle Jets
Although Newcastle Jets will be full of confidence after picking up their first win of the season in their most recent outing, Western Sydney Wanderers should still have too much quality for them. We fancy Robinson to get one over his former team and take the Wanderers top of the table after a narrow victory.
Top betting 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 Western Sydney Wanderers win with a probability of 38.98%. A win for Newcastle Jets had a probability of 35.93% and a draw had a probability of 25.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Western Sydney Wanderers win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.52%) and 2-0 (6.18%). The likeliest Newcastle Jets win was 1-2 (8.16%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.79%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.8% likelihood.
