Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC Preview
The latest instalment of the Big Blue is a pivotal one with Victory having lost their last two games and Sydney winless in three of their last four games.
The Sky Blues have failed to score in three of their last four games too and for that reason I'm backing Melbourne Victory to win at home.
- Victory have won four of their last six games
- Sydney are winless in three of their last four games
- BTTS - No has landed in eight of Sydney's last nine games
- BTTS - No has landed in six of the last seven meetings between the teams
- Victory have won three of their last four home games & two of their last three vs Sydney
- Sydney's last two defeats have been by 2-0 scores, while Victory's last home win over Sydney was 2-0
- Nikos Vergos is Victory's leading scorer this season with five goals
Melbourne Victory vs Sydney FC Head To Head
Sydney ran away dominant 3-0 winners when these sides last met in Round 5, with Joe Lolley's brace putting them in firm control before Alex Grant sealed all three points.
Melbourne Victory Suffer Back-to-Back Defeats
Victory head into this clash with a 5-2-6 record on the season and down in ninth spot on the ladder.
It was an extremely slow start to the season for Victory, but they found some form over the holiday period with a four-game winning streak, beating Adelaide, City, Phoenix and Glory.
Those wins eased the pressure on Arthur Diles, but Victory have slumped to back-to-back losses coming into this clash, going down 1-0 to the Wanderers before last week's 2-1 defeat to Adelaide.
It was heartbreak for Victory, who thought they had secured the win when Matthew Grimaldi’s strike hit the back of the net to make it 2-1 - however, the goal was disallowed and Adelaide swiftly went up field and found a late winner of their own.
Sydney FC Winless In 3 Of Last 4
Sydney remain two points off the top of the table with a game in hand, so you can't say it's been a bad season so far by any means.
However, the Sky Blues are winless in three of their last four and their form has dropped considerably since Joe Lolley has spent an extended period on the sidelines with his troublesome hamstring.
Ufuk Talay's side were widely backed to make it a successful homecoming in their first game at Allianz Stadium last week.
That wasn't the case, with Sydney slumping to a shock 2-0 defeat to Wellington, despite controlling the game with 70 per cent of possession.