Newcastle Jets entertain Brisbane Roar in the A-League on Wednesday morning, with the hosts aiming to end their current three-match losing run.
The visitors last played on January 2 due to coronavirus regulations and will be looking to build on their 3-1 win over Melbourne Victory last time out.
Match preview
Craig Deans was appointed caretaker manager following Carl Robinson's departure in the summer, but he is yet to secure his first victory in the role.
A narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of the league's new boys Macarthur FC over the weekend means the Jets remain pointless and rooted to the bottom of the table.
New signing Valentino Yuel did manage to register his first goal for his new side, however, and the 26-year-old will be hoping it is the start of a good run of form that fires his latest club up the division.
The Newcastle International Sports Centre outfit will be hoping they can take advantage of any rustiness within the Brisbane ranks due to their lengthy layoff and claim their first points of the season.
Brisbane have only won one of their last seven games against their upcoming opponents, although the Jets' recent results will give them confidence that they can address that record.
Attacking duo Scott McDonald and Dylan Wenzel-Halls were on the scoresheet against Melbourne at the start of the month, and Warren Moon will be keen for his forward players to pick up where they left off almost three weeks ago.
Moon's men finished fourth in 2019-20, reaching the final series before losing to Western United in the knockout round.
This time around, they will be hoping to go one better and claim their fourth A-League crown and their first since 2014. A victory over the division's basement side could be crucial to their chances if they want to keep pace with the leading pack.
Newcastle Jets Australian A-League form: LLL
Brisbane Roar Australian A-League form: LW
Team News
Twenty-eight-year-old midfielder Ben Kantarovski and full-back John Koutroumbis are once again unavailable for this midweek encounter, with the pair suffering from injury.
Wing-back Jason Hoffman made his comeback over the weekend but was unable to complete the 90 minutes and could be rested for the visit of Brisbane.
Moon oversaw wholesale changes at the Suncorp Stadium during the off-season, with 11 players joining the club and eight departing.
The new signings appeared to settle quickly following their impressive victory at the start of the month, and the extended rest means the Queensland side have a fully-fit squad to choose from.
Newcastle Jets possible starting lineup:
Duncan; Boogaard, Topor-Stanley, Jackson; O'Toole, Ugarkovic, Petratos, Thurgate; Najjarine, O'Donovan, Yuel
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Brown, Gillesphey, Aldred, Hingert; Akbari, O'Shea, Danzaki; Champness, McDonald, Wenzel-Halls
We say: Newcastle Jets 1-1 Brisbane Roar
Although the Jets have made a poor start to the new campaign, they have only been losing by narrow margins, and the rotten run has to end somewhere. Brisbane's momentum may have been lost by the enforced layoff, which means a draw could be on the cards.
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 Newcastle Jets win with a probability of 40.11%. A win for Brisbane Roar had a probability of 35.74% and a draw had a probability of 24.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Newcastle Jets win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.67%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.58%) and 2-0 (5.92%). The likeliest Brisbane Roar win was 1-2 (8.12%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.09%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8.1% likelihood.
