Melbourne City travel to the Sky Stadium on Monday for their clash against Wellington Phoenix aiming to return to winning ways in the Australian A-League.
As with their visitors, the hosts come into the game off the back of a defeat last time out, and they will be looking to bounce back straight away.
Match preview
Melbourne City's seven-game winning run in the league was brought to a halt as Western United claimed a 2-1 win when the sides met on Thursday.
Patrick Kisnorbo's men were on course for yet another win after they took the lead inside the opening quarter of an hour, but second-half goals Lachlan Wales and Besart Berisha turned the game on its head.
Despite missing out on the opportunity to move into second place, City are just five points off the top spot with two games in hand.
Monday's game at a venue where the visitors have not won any of their last four games promises to be a real test of their title credentials.
However, they have scored the most goals in the league this term, while only Sydney FC have a better defensive record, which highlights their efficiency at both ends of the field.
Wellington Phoenix failed to build upon a 4-1 victory against Melbourne Victory as they were beaten 1-0 by Macarthur FC on Sunday.
Denis Genreau scored the decisive goal midway through the second half with a well-taken finish for his second goal of the season.
With 15 points from their first 14 games, Ufuk Talay's men remain 10th on the log, four points adrift of the last playoff spot having played an extra game.
This is a huge downgrade from the last campaign where they were six points and the same number of places better off at this stage then.
An upturn in form is immediately needed if they are to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
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Team News
City midfielder Aiden O'Neill remains sidelined with a back injury, and he has not featured for the visitors since January.
Jamie Maclaren has directly contributed to at least one goal in his last eight appearances, with 13 goal involvements in total during that span.
Phoenix's David Ball has found the back of the net in two of his last four home games, but he will be going up against a side that have conceded just three goals in their last six matches, keeping four clean sheets in that time.
Luke DeVere's injury woes continue as the Australian defender is set to miss a ninth consecutive game due to a damaged knee.
Liam McGing has sat both of his side's last two games out with a knock, but he could be set for a return to action in this one.
Wellington Phoenix possible starting lineup:
Sail; McGarry, Payne, Taylor, Fenton; Devlin, Lewis, Rufer, Davila; Ball, Hemed
Melbourne City possible starting lineup:
Glover; Garuccio, Good, Reis, Atkinson; Griffiths, Metcalfe, Berenguer; Noone, Nabbout, Maclaren
We say: Wellington Phoenix 1-3 Melbourne City
City will be looking to put Thursday's defeat behind them and deliver another statement of intent in the title race. We expect them to come out on top in a game where they should largely dominate.
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 Melbourne City win with a probability of 49.75%. A win for Wellington Phoenix had a probability of 26.96% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Melbourne City win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.61%) and 0-2 (7.65%). The likeliest Wellington Phoenix win was 2-1 (6.73%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.76%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 3.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Melbourne City would win this match.
