The football headlines have written themselves this week, with the whole drama surrounding the leaked stadium ban list earning another week in the spotlight.
At Melbourne City, the impressive form of their men’s side – two successive 5-1 wins – and the formidable performances of Aaron Mooy have taken centre-stage, as has the season ending injury to recruit Corey Gameiro.
Over in Victory land, their biggest name Besart Berisha penned a new contract, while the club followed suit by signing a new deal with Etihad Stadium.
It’s been a relatively gripping week in regards to football news – for better or for worse – but one thing that’s objectively been for the worse is the lack of build-up to the second W-League Melbourne Derby.
There’s been minimal efforts made to hype up the fixture, with only the solitary post from the Victory Facebook page and Twitter account actually detailing the location and time of the contest.
We’re hosting the #WLeague #MelbDerby at Kingston Heath on Sunday. Free entry for #MVFC members & kids. COYGIB! pic.twitter.com/05OVcQF7hA
— Victory W-League (@victorywleague) December 3, 2015
Despite the women’s team now being controlled in-house by the Victory, they still couldn’t spare the time to promote the game via their main Facebook account either.
Even the fact that forward Laura Spiranovic’s season-ending knee injury wasn’t considered newsworthy by the Victory media is testament to this.
It seems to be business as usual for the two teams, who’ve for some reason have settled for not promoting what should be their marquee fixture for the season.
There’s a genuine feeling that this game may slip through the cracks as just another non-broadcast W-League game, or at least you’d gather by the actions of both clubs this week.
With neither club showing any interest in web streaming the game, nor even feign interest in making the occasion a special one, will this derby fall victim of the mechanically manufactured ‘passion’ we’ve seen too often before in Australian football.
In regards to the football itself, all signs point towards a second derby win for City in a first vs. last match-up.
City – still yet to drop a point this season – are fresh off the bye, but saw a number of their players compete in international football during their week off.
While their galaxy of international stars were off playing in exotic locations like South Korea, Scotland and Brazil, the Victory women were toiling away in Perth, but notched up arguably the most important win of the weekend.
A 3-1 reverse result against the Glory sets up this derby well from a footballing perspective, as they’ll be full of confidence heading into the game at Kingston Heath.
Selection News
All eight players who were away on international duties will be in the mix for this weekend’s game, with the club confirming the group – Kim Little, Jennifer Beattie, Jess Fishlock, Laura Alleway, Steph Catley, Larissa Crummer, Lisa De Vanna and Rebekah Stott – will all feature.
There shouldn’t be too many changes for City, with coach Joe Montemurro afforded the luxury of being able to keep a consistent starting XI, but anticipate a return to the starting line-up for skipper De Vanna, who returns from a two-week suspension lay-off.
The other big name to return will be Fishlock, who missed the Round 6 win over Brisbane Roar with extended duties with the Welsh national team.
Out in their place go Mexican international Anisa Guajardo and winger Melina Ayres.
Trudy Burke and Brianna Davey will tussle once more for the number one jersey, with the latter a possibility to face her former side in her first appearance for the season.
As mentioned, Spiranovic will miss the remainder of the W-League season with a serious knee injury, with the forward confirming she’ll be out for up to four months.
This may open up the door for a starting debut for young Whitney Knight, who could be shifted out onto the left wing.
There’s also a welcome return of Victory stalwart Gulcan Koca, who returned to training this week. A starting berth may just come too soon for her however.
Key Match-ups
Hayley Raso vs. Steph Catley
A battle of international teammates will help shape the match on Sunday. We know about the attacking prowess of both players and it’ll be a tantalising contest to see the duo running at each other in full flight. Raso is in good touch having netted her first goal in Victory colours last weekend. Will Catley be able to mark her out of the game, while still impacting the contest in an attacking sense?
Kim Little vs. Christine Nairn
Arguably THE marquee player for each side, Little has taken to life in the W-League like a duck to water and is in top form after a strong performance for Scotland last weekend. Nairn similarly was by all accounts a standout last weekend in the win against Perth, scoring a delightful free-kick, which had the keeper planted. They’ll be the creative forces for either team, and will be hoping to direct traffic for their respective side.
Predicted Line-up
Bench: Dimovski (GK), A. Taranto, M. Taranto, Koca
Bench: Davey (GK), Goad, Jackson, Chidiac
Predicted Score
Victory will be full of confidence after a groundbreaking win last time out against Perth, and applied themselves well against City in their last meeting in Round 2. But they were missing a wealth of international stars that day, so expect a vastly different contest this time around. 3-0 City