There’s plenty on the line in the A-League Women as CommBank Matildas hope to help their teams secure places in the top six before the new year.
Read our preview of all of the action below.
On Thursday, 5pm AEDT, league leaders Melbourne City will take on Tameka Yallop’s Brisbane Roar. The Roar will hope to break their recent winless run, with victory in the Victorian capital. Yallop is also yet to score this season, but will be hoping that she can make a significant impact, to lift her hometown club over the line. Holly McNamara remains out for the season for Melbourne City.
Friday sees an intriguing clash, with Sydney FC hosting the Wellington Phoenix at 5pm AEDT. The defending champions are performing below their expectations this season, but with high player turnover and plenty of games to come, you can never write them out. Meanwhile, the Wellington Phoenix sit in third place, proving plenty of doubters wrong along the way, while playing a highly entertaining style of football.
Cortnee Vine and Jada Whyman are both expected to start for Sydney FC, and have drawn big crowds wherever they have been this season.
It will be a battle of the United’s on Saturday, as Canberra host Western at 5pm AEDT. Chloe Logarzo has hit a rich vein of form, having scored in two consecutive matches for Western United, and will be key to their success in this game. Having flown out of the blocks early, with fifteen goals in their first five matches, Canberra have now failed to score in their last two and will hope to arrest that form, against a highly organised Melbourne team.
Elise Kellond-Knight, Lydia Williams and Emily Gielnik’s Melbourne Victory travel to Western Sydney on Saturday, where they will take on the Wanderers at 6pm AEDT. Victory will be hurting after losing the Melbourne Derby to rivals City last week, but have the players to turn it around. Meanwhile, a win for the Wanderers could see them finish the round as high as sixth.
Kellond-Knight and Williams are both expected to start for Victory. The injury status of Gielnik remains unclear.
The Central Coast Mariners will take on Perth Glory on Sunday, 4.15pm AEDT, in the club’s traditional New Years Eve fixture. The Mariners are coming off a decisive win while the Glory are looking to bounce back after a loss, but the team from the West will back themselves as favourites in an attempt to reclaim their position on top of the ladder. Kyah Simon is yet to make a matchday squad for the Mariners.
Finally, on Sunday, 5pm AEDT, the Newcastle Jets will host Adelaide United. The Reds are in a storming run of form at the moment – after seven games without a win, they’ve now won their last two. They will be hoping to continue that run against a Jets side that struggled without CommBank Matildas star Emily van Egmond last week.
Make sure that you catch all of the action over the holiday period on 10Play or Paramount+.