In their first of three consecutive A-League fixtures at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Western United will host the Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.
The club from Western Victoria have yet to win a home game in this domestic campaign, sitting dead last in the table, while their opponents this weekend are two points behind Melbourne City for first and unbeaten on the road in 2022-23.
Match preview
Following a record-setting 2021-22 domestic season which saw John Aloisi's men capture their first Grand final, the Western Victorians have regressed to this point of the new campaign.
In their previous 26-game season, a big part of this team's success came down to their ability to defend, conceding the second-fewest goals before the Finals Series, but after seven matches this season, they have allowed more goals than any side in the league (18).
It has not helped that they have dug themselves some early deficits in their recent outings, going behind 2-0 over their last three games in this competition, though they did manage to come back and beat Wellington Phoenix 3-2 in November.
Western United have never gone winless in four consecutive home fixtures over any of their past domestic campaigns, but they will be faced with that possibility this weekend.
They have only scored one time in the opening half of their three home fixtures in the A-League this season, while they have gone on to lose their two encounters in which they had scored first.
The club from Western Melbourne have fared well versus WSW on their home soil, winning three of four domestic meetings against them, including a 3-2 victory in this exact fixture in February.
Over in Western Sydney, the campaign has begun positively for Mark Rudan with his side suffering just one defeat after seven matches, their best start to a domestic campaign since 2020-21.
Under their Sydney-born coach's guidance, this team have been difficult to penetrate in a low block, conceding the fewest goals in the A-League this season after seven games (five).
They have needed that kind of stinginess along the backline as they rarely take chances going forward and do not possess a ton of quality in the attacking third, scoring the third-fewest goals to date in the campaign.
Western Sydney have been especially well-organised when playing away from home, undefeated in three A-League fixtures this season, conceding just once over that stretch.
Their ability to take away the dangerous shooting lanes is a big reason for their early success, allowing three or fewer efforts on target in two of their three away games.
WSW have not conceded a first-half goal to this point of the domestic campaign, though have allowed the opener in two of their last three matches.
Team News
Neil Kilkenny had the only strike for Western United last weekend when they were beaten 2-1 by Perth Glory, top goalscorer Nicolas Milanovic has failed to find the back of the net in his previous two contests, though he and Dylan Pierias were both on the mark in their last home game, which they lost 4-2 to Adelaide United.
In their previous encounter versus Western Sydney last season, a brace from Ben Garuccio and a goal by Aleksandar Prijovic helped give United a 3-2 victory, with the Serbian forward involved in all three strikes for his team.
Leo Lacroix will serve the first of his two-match suspension on Saturday after he was red carded against Perth, Alessandro Diamanti missed that game due to illness, while Adisu Bayew continues to search for his first appearance of the campaign.
A 79th-minute strike from Yeni Ngbakoto helped Western Sydney rescue a point versus Wellington Phoenix, his first of the season, Lawrence Thomas leads the A-League with four clean sheets, two of which happened away from home, while Sulejman Krpic is their leading scorer with two goals in league play.
Ramy Najjarine and Tate Russell continue to search for their first goals of the season, having each scored twice in the previous campaign, while they are really missing the presence of a consistent number nine since the departure of Tomer Hemed, their top scorer from 2021-22, who transferred back to Israel.
Rudan made two changes to his starting 11 last weekend as Najjarine and Ngbakoto were inserted into the lineup in place of Kusini Yengi and Milos Ninkovic.
Western United possible starting lineup:
Young; Markovic, Topor-Stanley, Tratt; Pierias, Kilkenny, Doumbia, Wales; Bayew, Troisi; Prijovic
Western Sydney Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Thomas; Traore, Marcelo, Mrcela, Cleur; Bozanic, Amalfitano, Nieuwenhof, Borrello; Krpic, Ngabkoto
We say: Western United 1-1 Western Sydney Wanderers
Sydney seem to be on the right track, but the season is still relatively early, plus, they have not shown much quality in the attacking third to date.
We expect the club from Melbourne, who have been better in recent outings, to dictate the play and have their share of possession, but still leaving plenty of gaps which the visitors could expose.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Joel Lefevre
