Western United and Melbourne Victory do battle on Friday, as both sides look to end five-game losing runs.
Despite sitting 13 points clear of their opponents, the hosts remain just one place ahead of Melbourne Victory, having fallen to 10th spot in the Australian A-League table.
Match preview
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Western United suffered a convincing 3-0 defeat last time out, as they made the trip to take on Wellington Phoenix.
Clayton Lewis opened the scoring for the hosts late in the first half, before Reno Piscopo and Tomer Hemed quickly put the game out of sight around the hour mark.
That was a fifth consecutive defeat for Mark Rudan's men, having previously lost to Brisbane Roar, Western Sydney Wanderers, Perth Glory and Sydney FC, while only scoring one goal in those five games.
As a result of their poor run of form, Western United have dropped into the bottom three in the Australian top flight, although they do sit 13 points ahead of Friday's opponents and 14 points clear of basement side Newcastle Jets.
They will instead look back up the table, as the likes of Perth Glory and Western Sydney Wanderers remain in touching distance if Rudan's men can quickly change their fortunes.
Their opponents will also be looking to secure an elusive win, having gone on a similar five-game losing run in the A-League.
The visitors' fifth straight defeat was not overly disheartening though, as they fell to a narrow 1-0 loss at home to third-placed Adelaide United.
Craig Goodwin netted the only goal of the match on the stroke of half time, and the Victory were unable to salvage a result despite a commendable effort in the second half.
As well as stretching their losing run to five matches, that was the 17th time that the Melbourne outfit have tasted defeat in 24 games in the top flight this season, with previous manager Grant Brebner dismissed as a result.
Caretaker manager Steve Kean started his tenure with a 5-4 win at home to Western Sydney Wanderers in April, but he has been unable to build a winning run, with the Melbourne side picking up just one point from the seven games since that victory.
With Tony Popovic lined up to take the reins following the conclusion of this season, the Victory will hope to end the campaign in a positive manner, starting with what would be their fifth league win of the season on Friday.
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Team News
Western United will remain without attacking midfielder Brad Inman, who was absent from the squad last time out through injury.
They also have selection concerns in defence, as centre-backs Aaron Calver and Dalibor Markovic will miss out alongside right-back Josh Risdon.
In their absence, experienced defender Andrew Durante will partner up with Ben Hamill at the heart of the back four.
Having failed to score in the last four league matches, Rudan has continuously altered his attacking options, but the front line should be comprised of Lachlan Wales, Alessandro Diamanti and Besart Berisha.
Melbourne Victory also have several injury concerns to deal with, as Nick Ansell, Brandon Lauton, Robbie Kruse and Marco Rojas are all expected to remain out of contention.
Their line should be led by Rudy Gestede, who has recorded four goals and two assists in 16 league appearances this season.
Western United possible starting lineup:
Scott; Imai, Hamill, Durante, Pain; Pierias, Pasquali, Uskok, Wales; Diamanti, Berisha
Melbourne Victory possible starting lineup:
Acton; Roux, Broxham, Ryan, Traore; Barnett; Butterfield; McManaman, Brimmer, Folami; Gestede
We say: Western United 2-0 Melbourne Victory
With both sides coming into the game in equally poor runs of form, this game could come down to which team has more quality, and we would expect the hosts to outclass a Melbourne Victory side who have been relatively poor throughout the campaign.
Rudan will definitely see Friday's game as the best opportunity for his side to reverse their fortunes, and we see them doing that with an important victory.
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 United win with a probability of 53.06%. A win for Melbourne Victory had a probability of 24.81% and a draw had a probability of 22.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Western United win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.96%) and 2-0 (7.68%). The likeliest Melbourne Victory win was 1-2 (6.3%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.01%). The actual scoreline of 1-6 was predicted with a 0% likelihood.
