The Australian A-League returns with a fresh set of fixtures as Brisbane Roar welcome Wellington Phoenix to the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts will be looking to grab their fourth win on the bounce, while the visitors will aim to extend their unbeaten run to five games.
Match preview
Brisbane Roar continued their impressive performance in recent weeks as they cruised to a 4-0 win against Central Coast Mariners on Wednesday.
In a game where the Mariners saw red, Macaulay Gillesphey, Joe Champness, Alex Parsons and Masato Kudo were all on target to hand Warren Moon's men their seventh win of the season.
The Roars, who last tasted defeat five games ago, have now won three games on the trot and this resurgence has seen them rise to seventh in the A-League table.
Brisbane Roar are unbeaten in each of the last three meetings with Saturday's opponents, with their most recent encounter ending in a 1-1 draw back in March.
Similarly, Wellington Phoenix head into this tie in fine form, having turned their season on its head in recent weeks.
This was highlighted when they fought back from one goal down to claim a hard-earned 2-1 win against Adelaide United last time out.
Stefan Mauk put the Reds ahead in the 51st minute, but Tomer Hemed set up in-form forward Ben Waine for a fine finish seven minutes later.
With the game headed for a draw, Hemed turned goalscorer as he calmly converted a 97th-minute penalty to hand Ufuk Talay's side a dramatic win.
Wellington Phoenix have now picked up three wins and one draw in their last four games, and have moved up to eighth place in the A-League table.
With just one point separating both sides, we can expect a thrilling contest on Saturday as victory will see either side move into the playoff places.
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Team News
Brisbane Roar head into the tie with no injury or suspension concerns, meaning Moon has the luxury of a full strength squad at his disposal.
The Roar will welcome back 27-year-old midfielder Corey Brown, who returns from a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.
This could see Jack Hingert return to his natural right-back role after filling in as a right wing-back last time out.
On the other hand, Wellington Phoenix will be without veteran defender Luke DeVere, who is sidelined with a knee problem.
Reno Piscopo has been out of action since March due to injury and will once again miss Saturday's encounter.
Nineteen-year-old forward Ben Waine will be one to look out for in this tie, having scored in each of the visitors' last four games.
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Neville, Trewin, Gillesphey; Brown, O'Shea, Akbari, Brindell-South; Danzaki, Wenzel-Halls, Champness
Wellington Phoenix possible starting lineup:
Sail; Fenton, Taylor, Payne, Sutton; Davila, Devlin, Lewis, Ball; Sotirio, Waine
We say: Brisbane Roar 1-2 Wellington Phoenix
This match sees two of the most in-form teams in the A-League trade tackles, and we can expect an entertaining matchup. However, considering the Roar's struggles on home turf this season, we see Wellington Phoenix claiming all three points in this one.
Top tip
Joshua Ojele
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 41.59%. A win for Wellington Phoenix had a probability of 33.09% and a draw had a probability of 25.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.28%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.84%) and 2-0 (6.85%). The likeliest Wellington Phoenix win was 0-1 (8.1%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.97%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 6.3% likelihood.
