Western Sydney Wanderers will be looking to build on their impressive win over Sydney FC in the derby last time out when they welcome Western United to the Bankwest Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors, meanwhile, will aim to quickly return to winning ways as they head into this tie off the back of Wednesday's 2-1 loss to Brisbane Roar.
Match preview
© Reuters
Western Sydney Wanderers kept their chances of a top-six finish alive when they claimed a hard-earned 3-2 win against local rivals Sydney FC last time out.
Despite being outplayed for most of the game, goals from Bruce Kamau, Mitchell Duke and Scott McDonald were enough for Carl Robinson's men to snatch the derby victory.
Western Sydney Wanderers have now avoided defeat in their last six Sydney derbies, picking up two wins and four draws since their 3-1 loss in December 2018.
The win ended the Wanderers' six-game winless run and saw them move up to eighth place in the A-League table, level on points with Saturday's visitors.
Western United, on the other hand, saw their four-game unbeaten run come to an end when they lost 2-1 against Brisbane Roar on Wednesday.
Mark Rudan's side took the lead on the hour mark through Lachlan Wales, but Josh Brindell-South and Riku Danzaki both hit the target to turn the game on its head and hand the Roar all three points.
The result saw Western United drop out of the playoff places into seventh place in the league standings, two points behind Brisbane Roar in the final playoff place.
With just two points separating Western Sydney Wanderers and Western United, who are both in a race for the playoff places, Saturday's encounter has all the makings of a proper contest.
Their most recent meeting came back in March, when Jordon Mutch scored the only goal of the game to hand Western Sydney Wanderers a narrow win.
- D
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
- D
- L
Team News
Goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic is a doubt for this tie as he is battling with a shoulder problem picked up following the win over Sydney FC.
Besides that, Western Sydney Wanderers have a fully fit squad, and we expect Robinson to stick to last week's starting lineup after their impressive performance.
On the other hand, Western United's Dalibor Markovic is ruled out with an ankle injury and is still a few weeks away from returning to action.
However, they will be boosted by the return of Victor Sanchez, who has now served his one-game suspension for picking up a red card against Adelaide last Friday.
Western Sydney Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Margush; Gordon, McGowan, Mourdoukoutas; Russell, Baccus, Dorrans, Aquilina; Ibini-Isei, Yeboah, Cox
Western United possible starting lineup:
Scott; Calver, Imai, Durante, Pain; Lustica, Uskok; Pierias, Diamanti, Wales; Berisha
We say: Western Sydney Wanderers 1-2 Western United
With a place in the top six potentially at stake, we can expect a nail-biting contest at the Bankwest Stadium on Saturday. Western United head into this tie with a stronger squad on paper and should be able to continue their fine run by claiming all three points.
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 Western Sydney Wanderers win with a probability of 45.71%. A win for Western United had a probability of 30.32% and a draw had a probability of 24%.
The most likely scoreline for a Western Sydney Wanderers win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.42%) and 2-0 (7.03%). The likeliest Western United win was 1-2 (7.31%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.09%). The actual scoreline of 5-0 was predicted with a 0.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Western Sydney Wanderers would win this match.
