Brisbane Roar will be hunting for their fourth win of the Hyundai A-League season against Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Saturday night (6:50pm KO QLD time).
The Roar are undefeated in their past six Hyundai A-League matches but will be hungry for a victory on Saturday night after three consecutive draws.
“We want to win every game no matter where we play so we’ll be going there with intent to win,” Head Coach John Aloisi said.
“It will be a tough game. Melbourne City have top players and we have to be in good form to win down there.”
The Hyundai A-League sides met at Suncorp Stadium four weeks ago with the Roar prevailing 1-0 thanks to a goal from Jamie Maclaren.
Brisbane will be looking to make it two wins from as many games against City in this season’s competition.
City enter the fixture with limited preparation following Wednesday night’s FFA Cup final but Aloisi still expects a tough, physical challenge from the hosts.
“We have to be prepared. We know they’ve been playing aggressively this year and when we played them earlier in the season we didn’t back down and I think we have to do the same,” Aloisi said.
“Our boys will make sure that they don’t get intimidated. We’ll still play our game but just know that we’re not going to get bullied.”
Brett Holman will not travel south after being ruled out with a minor knee injury with Brandon Borrello and Thomas Kristensen (below) returning to the squad following injury layoffs.
“We’ve got a good squad so whoever comes into to replace Brett [Holman] will do a good job,” Aloisi said.
“Kristensen has shown that he’s a good player and he’s fitted in nicely.
“He’s already been important but I think he’ll be even more important as the season goes on.”
Both sides’ defences are among the best in the Hyundai A-League, conceding nine goals each. The Roar’s resolute defence was on full display in the last meeting, halting a dangerous City attack and keeping a clean sheet.
Jamie Maclaren (below) is in a purple patch at the other end of the pitch scoring in his past three Hyundai A-League matches.
After the Roar’s impressive team effort to deny City a shot on target in their last meeting in early November Head Coach John Aloisi knows that his side will have to be on their game again this Saturday night.
“We’ll have to be at our best to beat them. Both teams will want to win so we’ll both be out there giving our all,” Aloisi said.
Melbourne City v Brisbane Roar
Saturday, 3 December at AAMI Park (6:50pm KO)
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Thomas SORENSEN (gk), 2.Manny MUSCAT, 3.Josh ROSE, 4.Connor CHAPMAN, 5.Ivan FRANJIC, 6.Osama MALIK, , 9.Nicolas COLAZO, 10.Anthony CACERES, 11.Bruce KAMAU, 12.Nick FITZGERALD, 17.Tim CAHILL, 18.Paulo RETRE, 20.Dean BOUZANIS (gk), 21.Ruon TONGYIK, 22.Michael JAKOBSEN, 23.Bruno FORNAROLI (c), 26.Luke BRATTAN, 27.Fernando BRANDAN **two to be omitted**
Ins: 6.Osama MALIK (returns from injury), 18.Paulo RETRE (promoted), 21.Ruon TONGYIK (promoted)
Outs: 8.Neil KILKENNY (suspended – 1 match)
Unavailable: 7.Corey GAMEIRO (ACL – season), 28.Steve KUZMANOVSKI (ACL – season)
Brisbane Roar FC squad: 1.Michael THEO (gk), 3.Luke DEVERE, 4.Daniel BOWLES, 5.Corey BROWN, 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN, 8.Jacob PEPPER, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 11.Tommy OAR, 13.Jade NORTH, 15.ARANA, 16.Nathan KONSTANDOPOULOS, 17.Matt MCKAY (c), 19.Jack HINGERT, 21.Jamie YOUNG (gk), 22.Thomas BROICH, 23.Dimitri PETRATOS (pictured below), 28.Brandon BORRELLO, 33.Joey KATEBIAN **two to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Thomas KRISTENSEN (promoted), 28.Brandon BORRELLO (returns from injury), 33.Joey KATEBIAN (promoted)
Outs: 10.Brett HOLMAN (knee – 6 weeks)
Referee: Shaun Evans
Assistant Referee 1: George Lakrindis
Assistant Referee 2: Luke Brennan
Fourth Official: Jonathan Barreiro
TV Broadcast: Live coverage on Fox Sports 505 from 7.30pm (AEDT) and Sky Sport 2 (New Zealand)
Radio Broadcast: ABC Grandstand, EON Sports Radio (eonsportsradio.com)
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