Newcastle Jets will be desperate to end their 11-game winless run when they welcome Sydney FC to the McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors head into this tie off the back of last week's 3-2 defeat in the Sydney derby and will be looking to quickly move on from that result.
Match preview
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Newcastle Jets failed in their bid to end their winless run last Thursday as they were beaten 3-1 by Melbourne City.
In a one-sided affair at AAMI Park, Patrick Kisnorbo's men raced to a three-goal lead through Andrew Nabbout, Scott Jamieson and Jamie Maclaren, before Steven Ugarkovic grabbed an 87th-minute consolation goal for the visitors.
Newcastle Jets have now failed to taste victory in each of their previous 11 games, with their last win coming when they beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 on February 21.
They have picked up just two points since then and this dire run has seen the Jets crash to the bottom of the A-League table, raising serious questions over Craig Deans's future at the helm.
Their struggles have also been down to their performances on home turf, where they have the league's worst record with just four points from nine home games.
Meanwhile, Sydney's charge to the top of the league standings took a halt as they were beaten 3-2 by Western Sydney Wanderers last Saturday.
After utterly dominating proceedings, the Sky Blues rued their lack of cutting edge in the final third as Carl Robinson's men held on for their seventh win of the season.
The result brought an end to Sydney's six-game unbeaten run, and also saw them drop down to fourth place in the league.
However, Steve Corica's side will feel confident of returning to winning ways as they have won three of their last four meetings with Saturday's hosts.
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Team News
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Australian-born winger Ramy Najjarine is ruled out of this tie after picking up an ankle injury following the game against Macarthur on April 18.
The Jets have no other injury concerns and will welcome back top goalscorer Roy O'Donovan, who was absent last time out due to a one-game suspension.
Sydney will be without 24-year-old midfielder Chris Zuvela, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury against Wellington Phoenix back in February.
Michael Zullo remains on the sidelines with a lengthy calf problem and is still weeks away from recovery.
English striker Adam Le Fondre is also ruled out as he is in quarantine after recently returning from a loan spell at Indian Super League side Mumbai FC.
Newcastle Jets possible starting lineup:
Italiano; Millar, Koutroumbis, Topor-Stanley, O'Toole; Ugarkovic, Thurgate; Yuel, Prso, O'Donovan; Stamatelopoulos
Sydney FC possible starting lineup:
Redmayne; King, McGowan, Wilkinson, Grant; Brattan, Baumjohann, Ninkovic, Retre; Barbarouses, Bobo
We say: Newcastle Jets 0-2 Sydney FC
Despite last week's defeat, Sydney head into this tie as the more in-form side. Newcastle Jets have struggled for results at home and we predict the visitors will capitalise on this poor form and grab all three points.
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 Sydney FC win with a probability of 46.8%. A win for Newcastle Jets had a probability of 29.28% and a draw had a probability of 23.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sydney FC win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.36%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.66%) and 0-2 (7.29%). The likeliest Newcastle Jets win was 2-1 (7.14%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.11%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.1% likelihood.
