Graham Arnold and Josep Gombau are two of the finest coaches the Hyundai A-League has ever seen, and on Saturday they will come head-to-head in a Sydney Derby for the first time.
Grab your tickets to the Sydney Derby double header here.
While they have come up against each other before, when Gombau was in charge of Adelaide, Saturday’s clash at ANZ Stadium looms as a real tactical battle for managers with contrasting styles.
And after a difficult start to life as Wanderers boss, Gombau will be hoping the derby can help spark his side after back-to-back losses in recent weeks.
But if his record against Arnold in the A-League is any indication, Western Sydney’s form could be about to turn around.
Who’ll come out on top? We crunch the Opta data to assess the key stats ahead of Saturday’s blockbuster.
ARNOLD v GOMBAU: HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 7
Gombau: 4 wins
Draws: 2
Arnold: 1 win
Gombau goals: 13
Arnold goals: 7
*Although Gombau leads the overall head-to-head record, Arnold came out on top in their last meeting with a 4-1 win.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS v SYDNEY FC RECORD
Played: 16
WSW wins: 4
SFC wins: 7
Draws: 5
WSW goals: 18
SFC goals: 23
SYDNEY DERBY – MOST GAMES
13 – Vedran Janjetovic
12 – Mark Bridge
12 – Rhyan Grant
11 – Nikolai Topor-Stanley
11 – Seb Ryall
MOST WINS
6 – Vedran Janjetovic, Seb Ryall
5 – Rhyan Grant, Matt Jurman, Terry Antonis
4 – Alex Brosque, Ali Abbas, Milos Dimitrijevic
GOALS
Nine different players have scored two Sydney Derby goals, but no player has scored more than two.
Kerem Bulut and Marc Janko are the only players to have scored multiple goals in a single game – and they both came in the same fixture (Feb 28th, 2015).
This article was originally published at: www.a-league.com.au/news/sydney-derby-stats-gombau-v-arnold
