Match Preview
Last season Newcastle were the team who came closest to robbing us of taking out the league title, but this season the Jets look like a shadow of what they were. They sit in a somewhat familiar place for them, on the bottom of the table with only a point from their first three games. Their squad looks fairly similar, however, and so it is a mystery why they have fallen so far off the pace. Vargas and Petratos have looked threatening at times, both netting a goal, but otherwise they have seemed fairly toothless up front with Brazilian import Jair yet to get on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile, Sydney looked their usual dominant selves against Melbourne City, scoring three times and constantly piling the pressure on. Le Fondre ’s superb start to the season rolled on, Zullo and Grant provided great options out wide and Ninkovic was his usual masterful self. Meanwhile Retre played probably the best game of his career to this point, causing all sorts of trouble and getting on the scoresheet from his new position as a right winger. This time around, Sydney will also not be dealing with the short turn-over of two league games and a cup final in the space of a week.
It is hard to see Corica making any changes given how successful the squad was last time out, so my predicted line-up is:
You can find details about the Cove Express here:
Previous Matches
Head-to-Head
Wins: 25 (61%)
Draws: 9 (22%)
Losses: 7 (17.1%)
Sydney FC record at McDonald Jones Stadium
Wins: 12 (60%)
Draws: 4 (20%)
Losses: 4 (20%)
Previous Meeting
3/03/18 – Newcastle 2 – 1 Sydney FC:
A crazy game, with O’Donovan’s red card, Petratos causing havoc and a classic Bobo header.
Last 5 Matches
3/03/18 – Newcastle 2 – 1 Sydney FC
3/01/18 – Sydney FC 2 – 2 Newcastle
18/11/17 – Sydney FC 2 – 1 Newcastle
15/04/17 – Sydney FC 2 – 0 Newcastle
4/12/16 – Newcastle 0 – 2 Sydney FC
Records
Biggest Win – 4 goals:
25/01/09 – Sydney FC 4 – 0 Newcastle
Biggest Loss – 3 goals:
5/02/12 – Sydney FC 2 – 5 Newcastle
Most Goals in a Game – 7 goals:
5/02/12 – Sydney FC 2 – 5 Newcastle
17/04/15 – Newcastle 3 – 4 Sydney FC
Most Appearances vs Newcastle – Alex Brosque (25)*
Most Goals vs Newcastle – Alex Brosque (12)*
Key Statistics
- Sydney have a 61% win rate against Newcastle in competitive fixtures, which is higher than any other team in the A-League.
- Sydney have scored against Newcastle in each of the last 11 fixtures, going back to 6/03/15.
- Adam Le Fondre now has 7 goals in 6 competitive games. This is equal to Brett Emerton (57 games), Karol Kisel (52 games) and Terry McFlynn (191 games).
- Alex Wilkinson played his 75th competitive fixture against Melbourne City. He is the 21st player to reach this milestone.
Note: Appearances and goals include league games, finals, FFA Cup, OFC and AFC Champions League and Club World Cup.
