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Western United’s first away fixture of the season will see the Green and Black come up against reigning champions Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
Match Details
Melbourne City vs Western United
Saturday, 4 December
Kick-off: 7:45pm AEDT
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Broadcast: The match will be shown live on Paramount+
United enters the clash on the back of its first win of the season, with Dylan Wenzel-Halls’ first goal for the club earning a 1-0 victory against Perth Glory last week.
City, meanwhile, had a first slip up of the new campaign after being pegged back by Adelaide United in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Previous Meetings
Very few A-League Men clubs can say they beat Melbourne City the last time they faced off, but that is the case for Western United.
A quick-fire double from Lachie Wales and Besart Berisha earned a 2-1 win in the last meeting back in April. This still remains the last time that City lost a match at AAMI Park.
Prior to that, though, City have controlled the head-to-head against Western United, winning each of the previous three fixtures.
Team News
For the third week running, Western United Head Coach John Aloisi will approach a match with no new injury concerns to deal with.
Sebastian Pasquali is the only long-term absentee in the squad while Slovenian midfielder Rene Krhin remains unavailable.
Adisu Bayew has returned to full training after his Olyroos commitments and could look to make the matchday squad, while Wenzel-Halls will be hoping to start after winning the game off the bench last week.
What John Aloisi is saying
On another match against a Melbourne rival
“The mood is good, we’re excited ahead of another derby – our second one in three games.”
“We’d love to get the win for our fans. I know it’s not our home game but I’m sure they’ll come and support us and make as much noise as they can. We want to get the win, not because it’s a derby but because it’s three points.”
On Wenzel-Halls competing with Prijovic
“It’s good. It’s what I want – players to come in and perform. You can win and lose games in the last 15 minutes, so when you’ve players that can make an impact, that helps.”
“He’s got confidence, when a player gets his first goal – he gets confidence. As a striker, I know how important it is to get that first goal.”
Getting the first win
“We want to keep winning. Winning creates good habits, that’s why it was so important to get the first win against Perth.” “Now that game’s out of the way, we believe every game we’re capable of winning.”
