Game 1

Sydney FC vs Brisbane Roar FC

The recent shift in the league standings directly involves the two teams competing in game one. Brisbane Roar dominated second place Western Sydney 4-0 a week ago, which dropped Western Sydney to third place and bumped Sydney FC into second place.

The Roar also helped themselves moving from fifth place into the crucial final playoff spot, fourth place.

The previous 4-0 W-League game was Sydney’s last game against Canberra in round 8. Sydney got the last round off with a bye and they will hope to fair better than the rest of the league when teams come back from byes. After the last round, teams are 2-1-5 when returning from a bye and coincidentally the two wins were against Sydney and Brisbane.

 

Key Matchup

Remy Siemsen vs Mackenzie Arnold

Every club that faces Sydney has to be worried about Remy Siemsen, the top goalscorer in the league. She has scored seven goals in just eight matches and is winning the golden boot by two goals currently. Siemsen is a former W-League Young Footballer of the Year, but she is still just twenty years old on a front line with Princess Ibini and Cailtin Foord. Siemsen has held her own and is a force to be reckoned with in her own right scoring almost half the team’s league best 16 goals, tied with Western Sydney.

If Siemsen wants to increase her total goals she will have to get past goalkeeper, Mackenzie Arnold. She has two clean sheets this season, one less than she had at this time a season ago. Brisbane is also one spot below in the league ladder where they were a season ago. The cliche of “offence sells tickets, but defence wins championships” has rang true often and if Brisbane wants to put themselves in the spot to go after the W-League championship then Arnold and company will need to limit the goals and restrict the goals from the best in the league.

 

Score Prediction

2-1 Sydney FC

Brisbane will be riding a high coming into the match after their convincing win over Western Sydney. But the other team in Sydney might give them an even tougher matchup. Sydney FC has back-to-back shutout wins and seems to be using the second half of the season as the time to peak. 

Expecting Brisbane to give their best performances in two consecutive weeks feels a bit of a reach for a team that has given up 12 goals and only scored 14 of their own.

Game 2

Melbourne City FC vs Newcastle Jets

This game is full circle on the pretty shocking 1-1 opening round finish between these two teams. Their result that night was the same, but since then they have had very different storylines so far.

Melbourne City sits atop the league table ahead of second place by four points. The Jets sit in seventh place with a mere four points to their name. That 1-1 draw had City fans scratching their head at what the season would hold and Jets fans hoping for a miracle season.

If the Jets won the remainder of their five games and Melbourne City lost the rest of theirs the Jets would still not catch City in total points. The season is a long way from that opening round and it still has a long way to go. But a 1-1 draw between these two teams now seems a lot more far fetched than it did back in November. 

 

Key Matchup

Gema Simon vs Emily van Egmond

The Jets have recorded zero clean sheets this season and average 1.7 goals against per game. Newcastle has not won a game since round 4 and that was against winless Perth Glory. To put it simply they desperately need to keep their opponents out of their net and the leader of the backline is skipper, Gema Simon. 

If Newcastle wants to earn a similar result they had last time against City then Simon has got to be sharp for them. City will get plenty of offensive chances, but Simon will need to command her teammates and make sure CIty’s chances are from difficult angles.

One of the main players the Jets will have to stop is one of their former teammates, Emily van Egmond. She is tied for third in the league with four goals, one of which came against Newcastle in their first meeting. In that game van Egmond only had two shots which is par for her how she shoots, not often but efficient. She has only shot the ball 12 times with nine on frame and four hitting the back of the net.

It will not be enough to limit van Egmond to a few shots, Newcastle needs to stop van Egmond from even thinking about taking a shot if they want to win this game.

 

Score Prediction

3-0 Melbourne City

City still has not lost a game and they have only tied once, but it would be very unlikely for the Jets to tie them twice. Melbourne is dangerous and looking like the best team in the league. Melbourne City has not conceded a goal since round four and that seems like a streak that will stay alive after this round as well.

Game 3 

Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory

If you are looking for a round upset this would be the one that is most likely to happen. Adelaide is itching for a win and seems on the cusp every week. Melbourne Victory has looked strong as of late, but their inconsistency earlier in the season makes it feel almost too good to be true for them to sustain it.

Due to the game last week being postponed from the fires and a scheduled bye both of these teams got the week off in round 9. So the argument of too much rest for one team is voided here. 

Adelaide is practically out of the race for post season while Victory is just two points outside the top four. Could this be the week Adelaide gets out of the basement or the week Victory fully lives up to their potential?

 

Key Matchup

Natasha Dowie vs Julia Ashley

One of the top goal scorers every year she plays, this year is no different for Natasha Dowie. Last year she got second place for the golden boot and she is currently in the top ten with three goals. 

Dowie has played every minute for Victory being a part of almost all of the team’s offence. She was able to get the scoring going last game, by netting a goal in just the 10th minute of play. Dowie is the spark that gets Victory going and they will need it to beat Adelaide this week.

Trying to stop Dowie and the rest of Victory’s offence will be defender Julia Ashley. A staple in Adelaide's backline will have her work cut out for her this week. 

Stopping a goal scorer is always easier said than done and Adelaide’s track record this year proves that point. Ashley will have to step up multiple times for her team this week if they want to have a fighting chance.

 

Score Prediction

2-1 Melbourne Victory

Victory is riding a three game unbeaten streak into this game and they will look to keep it alive against the last place team. Melbourne Victory are not blowing teams out and they have the closest goal differential of any team with -1. 

Adelaide’s main problem is they cannot close out games and lose most of them by one goal fashion. Look for this to be much of the same with Adelaide walking off the pitch going through the what ifs. 

Game 4

Western Sydney Wanderers FC vs Perth Glory

Coming off the biggest surprise of the season with Western Sydney losing their first game of the year and in quite a fashion at that. A 4-0 scoreline might have been predicted but definitely with the Wanderers on the winning end. 

Perth Glory got last week off with a bye, but the week before they were able to capture just their second point of the season in a 2-2 tie with Adelaide. Remarkably, those two goals are a third of the goals Perth has scored all season.

This game will be looked at as how can the Wanderers bounce back from last week and will they take out all of their frustration on Perth.

 

Key Matchup

Wanderers Offence vs Perth Glory Defence

This may look like an obvious and almost easy answer to this game, but the Wanderers were just shutout for the first time all year. They are one of if not the best offence in the league with 16 goals on the year. To think a team would go without losing a game in the W-League would be difficult to believe, but to think the Wanderers would lose their first game so badly was a shock. 

An offence that has Kristen Hamilton and Kyra Cooney-Cross who have scored 11 goals just between the two of them is tough to stop. 

Then on the flip side Perth is tied for the second most goals conceded with 13. Perth has had zero shutouts and limited offence of their own. If Western Sydney puts up a lot of goals, Perth cannot expect to hang with them. They have to limit the Wanderers to one to two goals maximum if they want to try and earn at least a tie.

 

Score Prediction

4-0 Western Sydney

The Wanderers are going to repay their last week’s beating to Perth. Western Sydney does not want to look like a team on the decline and they need to keep their goal differential above Sydney FC and close to Melbourne City. 

This will be a revenge game where Perth happens to be the team standing in the way.