Adelaide United play host to Western United on Friday looking to keep the pressure on A-League leaders Melbourne City.
However, while the home side currently sit in fourth position in the standings, they will be overtaken by their next opponents if they suffer defeat at the Coopers Stadium.
Match preview
While Adelaide have remained in contention for top spot in the table in recent games, Carl Veart will see it as a missed opportunity.
His side have claimed just seven points from five fixtures, their most recent defeat coming away at mid-table Wellington Phoenix by a 2-1 scoreline.
For the fourth time during that period, Adelaide failed to build on taking the lead, succumbing on this occasion to a 90th-minute penalty.
The result also extended an unwanted record of just one clean sheet in 14 matches with that return proving to be the reason why the club are not currently sitting in first place.
On the flip side, Adelaide have failed to score in just one of their 17 games played since the turn of the year.
As far as Western United are concerned, they head into this contest as one of the form teams in the division with 13 points being collected from six fixtures.
That sole defeat was a result of a late winner for Phoenix on April 11, but Mark Rudan will be delighted with how his side have performed throughout this month.
Despite goals being harder to come by than for their opponents, Western United have still netted in eight successive matches.
Wide player Dylan Pierias has six strikes to his name this season, the latest of those efforts coming in the 2-0 win over Newcastle Jets on Monday.
- W
- L
- D
- W
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
- D
- W
Team News
Veart will give consideration to naming the same Adelaide side which started the defeat to Phoenix.
While Kusini Yengi and Mohamed Toure are pushing for roles in attack, the pair are expected to remain on the substitutes' bench.
Western United are able to call upon Brendan Hamill with the defender having served his one-match suspension.
Aaron Calver should get the nod after Josh Risdon's early withdrawal in the last game, while Iker Guarrotxena will be considered for a recall to the side.
Adelaide United possible starting lineup:
Gauci; Strain, Elsey, Timotheou, Cavallo; Mauk, Juande, D'Arrigo; Halloran, Juric, Goodwin
Western United possible starting lineup:
Scott; Calver, Imai, Durante, Pain; Lustica, Sanchez; Pierias, Diamanti, Wales; Berisha
We say: Adelaide United 1-1 Western United
On the back of their surprise defeat in their last outing, the home side can ill afford another setback if they want to remain in a strong position in the standings.
With that in mind, we expect a competitive draw with few goals to play out at the Coopers Stadium.
Top tip
Darren Plant
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 Adelaide United win with a probability of 48.92%. A win for Western United had a probability of 27.74% and a draw had a probability of 23.3%.
The most likely scoreline for an Adelaide United win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.5%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (8.42%) and 2-0 (7.43%). The likeliest Western United win was 1-2 (6.87%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.75%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 4.8% likelihood.
