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A-League Semi-Finals – Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne City Preview
When? Friday 27th April, 10:50 (UK)
Where? McDonald Jones Stadium
What channel is it on? BT Sport 1 (Next Day Delayed Coverage)
Are tickets still available?
Newcastle Jets & Melbourne City - http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/hyundai-aleague-2018-finals-series-newcastle-new-south-wales-27-04-2018/event/13005489DE62BC78?artistid=1055546&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=11&tm_link=artist_msg-0_13005489DE62BC78
Where can I stream the match? BT Sport subscribers can stream the match online via the BT Sport website
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Last five meetings: Newcastle Jets W1, Melbourne Victory W3, D1
A-League meetings: Newcastle Jets W9, Melbourne Victory W11, D4
NEWCASTLE JETS
Predicted line-up: Duncan; Koutroumbis, Jackson, Topor-Stanley, Georgievski; Ugarkovic; Vargas, Champness, D. Petratos, Rodriguez; O'Donovan
Unavailable: Brown (Injured), Kantarovski (Injured)
Doubtful:
MELBOURNE CITY
Predicted line-up: Bouzanis; Atkinson, Schenkeveld, Jakobsen, Jamieson; Bozanic, Brattan; Vidosic, Mauk, Arzani; Fornaroli
Unavailable: La Rocca (Out of favour), Tongyik (Out of favour), Cavallo (Injured)
Doubtful: Jakobsen (Injured)
PREDICTION
Newcastle Jets may be the slightly fresher of the two sides after their top-two finish gave them a week off in the finals series. However, Melbourne City have the all-important momentum going into the first of the A-League semi-finals.
Warren Joyce’s men come here off the back of beating Brisbane Roar by two goals to nil last weekend and will now look to use that as a springboard to bigger and better things.
Standing in their way though is the challenge of the Jets. Ernie Merrick’s men have long since secured a top-two spot, but they have not ended the regular season in the best of form, losing three of their last four matches. This will arguably be the closer of this weekend’s semi’s and don’t be surprised if City provide Melbourne based representation in the final by grounding the Jets.
MEMORABLE MEETING
Only a few weeks have passed since Newcastle Jets played host to Melbourne City in the regular season phase of the A-League and it is fair to say that Ernie Merrick’s men will have revenge on their mind when going into this game after they were dealt a 3-0 home defeat by City.
Although this win was not enough for the visitors to earn a top-two finish, it certainly shows that this weekend’s match could be a wide-open encounter. Dario Vidosic scored a brace for the Melbourne based outfit as he and his teammates cruised to victory.
