Brisbane Roar entertain Melbourne Victory in the Australian A-League on Saturday morning as both teams look to extend their good run of recent form.
The hosts saw off Adelaide United 3-1 last time out, while Grant Brebner's men made it two games unbeaten with a draw at Western United.
Match preview
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The three points over the weekend lifted Warren Moon's men up to second in the top-flight standings, just three points behind league-leaders Central Coast Mariners with two games in hand.
That means the Roar are the A-League's in-form team at this moment in time, with Saturday's impressive result making it three consecutive wins for the Suncorp Stadium outfit.
In 2019-20 Brisbane finished in fourth position, reaching the Final Series playoffs before being defeated by Western United. Their success was built on solid foundations, although they struggled to put the ball in the back of the net themselves.
This time around, it appears Moon has found a better balance within his side. Scoring eight goals and conceding four in their opening four games is a promising sign of things to come, and the Brisbane supporters will be confident that a first A-League crown since 2014 could be coming their way.
Melbourne Victory started 2020-21 with back-to-back defeats, firstly at home to their upcoming opponents, and then away to Adelaide.
Four points from their following two games has lifted the mood at the AAMI Park and eased the pressure on Brebner, who added several star names to his squad over the summer.
Former Premier League players such as Ryan Shotton, Callum McManaman and Rudy Gestede bolstered the Victory's ranks, and much was expected of them this season.
Another win at the weekend would continue their rise up the table and send a significant message to their domestic rivals that they have serious ambitions of a title tilt for the rest of the campaign.
Brisbane Roar Australian A-League form: LWWW
Melbourne Victory Australian A-League form: LLWD
Team News
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Moon has a fully-fit squad to choose from for the visit of Melbourne Victory and is unlikely to make any changes from the side that secured the three points last time out.
That means in-form striker Dylan Wenzel-Halls is set to lead the line once again after bagging four goals and providing two assists already this season.
Summer signings Gestede and McManaman have been absent from the last two matchday squads through injury but could be in line to return either from the off or as substitutes in this one.
Brebner's side have been relying on the goals of central-midfielder Jake Brimmer so far, and the head coach will be hoping his forwards start to ease the goalscoring burden on the 22-year-old when they face Brisbane.
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Freke; Trewin, Aldred, Gillesphey; Hingert, Akbari, O'Shea, Brown; Danzaki, McDonald; Wenzel-Halls
Melbourne Victory possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Traore, Ryan, Shotton, Roux; Broxham; Rojas, Brimmer, Butterfield, Lauton; Gestede
We say: Brisbane Roar 2-1 Melbourne Victory
This will be a close game between two evenly matched teams in decent form. However, we fancy the hosts to take all three points here as they should have too much quality going forward for the visitors, and their momentum is likely to carry them across the line.
Top betting tip
George Cannon
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 Brisbane Roar win with a probability of 42.98%. A win for Melbourne Victory had a probability of 30.93% and a draw had a probability of 26.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.56%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.89%) and 2-0 (7.57%). The likeliest Melbourne Victory win was 0-1 (8.66%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.4%). The actual scoreline of 5-2 was predicted with a 0.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Brisbane Roar would win this match.
