The Wanderers come out of the bye and into one of the most important clashes of their season as they host the Melbourne Victory.
Get your tickets to the match against Melbourne Victory here.
The race for the finals is beginning to take shape as some teams drop out of contention, making this match between the sixth placed Wanderers and fourth placed Victory hugely significant.
Alen Stajcic’s side will feel confident of success given their recent run of form, which has seen them go unbeaten in the last five matches and winning three on the spin.
Western Sydney were at their free-flowing attacking best in their last meeting at the start of March, coming from behind in a comfortable and emphatic 4-1 win over Perth at home.
Aydan Hammond stole the show with a brace, with Oscar Priestman and Bozhidar Kraev also scoring.
With the big win, the Wanderers took their goal tally to 43 in just 19 games, and they are well on track to record their best ever attacking record in club history.
The squad is also buoyed by the return of Nicolas Milanovic, who served a one game suspension for accumulation of yellow cards.
Milanovic is Western Sydney’s top goalscorer with eight in the league, but he is trailed closely by Zac Sapsford who has seven.
The attack for the Red and Black has hit its stride in recent weeks, scoring 14 goals in the five match unbeaten run, but it is at the back where Stajcic will look to see some improvement.
The early concession of an Adam Taggart goal was another match without a clean sheet, despite the positive performances of much of the back four in recent times, and they will look to rectify that in this important top six battle.
Alex Bonetig has made a strong partnership with Anthony Pantazopoulos, with the latter being rewarded with a contract extension last week.
Gabriel Cleur is also in his best form of the season, and the signing of Alex Gersbach has greatly increased the depth at left back as the season approaches its final sprint.
Ahead of the weekend’s fixtures, the Wanderers are two points behind Melbourne, but also only four points off Western United in second, who have played a game more.
As the likes of Macarthur, Wellington and Central Coast drop off in form, it increases the Wanderers’ chances of making the top six, but the match against Melbourne is close to a must win; they will take confidence from their record against the Victory, though.
They have only lost two of their last 11 head-to-head matches, and secured a solid 2-2 draw on the road in January, despite the Wanderers being hit by an injury crisis at the time.
Goals from Hammond and Milanovic put them 2-1 up with less than 15 minutes to go, before a controversial handball allowed Ryan Teague to convert from the spot and force a share of the points.
It has been an up and down season for Melbourne, who shockingly lost Patrick Kisnorbo as coach after just seven league games, with Arthur Diles being named as his replacement.
They failed to win their first seven games under his management with a record of three draws and three losses, but they have only lost one of their last seven games to move into fourth.
Their six draws is the second highest in the league, showing they at times lack a cutting edge, and they needed a stoppage time equaliser recently to beat bottom side Brisbane Roar.
Their defensive record is strong, but it will be put to the test by the Wanderers’ attack.
A win for Western Sydney would see them leapfrog their opponents and see them take a big step to returning to the Finals.
