The Wanderers will look to end a tough run of form when they travel to South Australia to take on Adelaide United.
It has been a difficult period for the side, as they have been plagued by injuries and suspension, with coach Marko Rudan having one more match to serve of his touchline ban.
Many key faces will be returning this week from serving suspensions in a huge boost for the Red & Black, with Jorrit Hendrix, Tate Russell, Aidan Simmons and Tom Beadling all in contention to line up against the Reds on Saturday night.
Recent weeks have also seen Milos Ninkovic get more match minutes off the bench, whilst Brandon Borrello played nearly an hour off the bench in the narrow loss to Central Coast.
It was a valiant effort from an understrength Western Sydney side – who created good chances in the first half – but an injury to key striker Marcus Antonsson thwarted the side in attack, and they were undone by the late concession of a penalty that was ultimately converted by Mikael Dorka.
As a result of his injury, Antonsson will now be sidelined for eight weeks with ligament damage.
The loss means the Wanderers are now in sixth on the table, but are only three points off the likes of Melbourne Victory and Macarthur, having a game in hand on the latter.
Their defence is still strong, with their 22 goals conceded one of the best records in the league, though the sheer amount of absentees in key positions mean the goals are not coming as quickly as the team would like, though the continued return of Borrello to full fitness as well as Hendrix from suspension will go a long way to solving this issue.
Many of the Wanderers attackers have still been exciting threats, with Lachie Brook in strong goalscoring form despite firing a blank last week, whilst Alex Badolato and Nicolas Milanovic continued their impressive performances, with the latter nearly opening the scoring against the Mariners when his fierce shot was tipped onto the bar by Danny Vukovic.
With just 10 games left in the season, the Wanderers need to find their cutting edge if they are to cement themselves in the top four and even make a late run for the Premier’s Plate, and a match against a misfiring Adelaide side may be the perfect tonic for Western Sydney.
It has been a tough season for Adelaide, with just one win in their last eight games leaving them in ninth place, six points behind the Wanderers.
They have struggled to replace the quality and leadership of former captain Craig Goodwin -who departed in the off-season – and have been further dented by the loss of centre back Alex Popovic to Korea, and star goalkeeper Joe Gauci to Premier League side Aston Villa in January.
Wonderkid Nestroy Irankunda – who is off to Bayern Munich at the end of the season – has shown flashes of his brilliance, but has struggled for consistency, with the youngster left out of the matchday squad in their 2-1 loss to our crosstown rivals last round.
In that match the Reds fell behind 2-0, with a late Hiroshi Ibusuki goal not enough to save them from a 2-1 defeat.
Whilst Adelaide’s away form is poor – with just one win away from Coopers Stadium all season – their home form is more impressive, with the fourth best record in the league in front of their own fans.
The Wanderers’ last clash in Adelaide was a thriller, with Amor Layouni scoring a 95th minute equaliser on his debut for the club to salvage a 4-4 draw that included a Borrello stunner.
The first match between the sides this season was a more controlled affair, with Dylan Pierias’ first goal for the Wanderers securing a 1-0 win for the Wanderers at CommBank Stadium; the win saw the Wanderers move level with Adelaide in the head-to-head ledger, with each side having 11 wins, with 12 games drawn.
