Preview: Melbourne City vs. Western Sydney Wanderers - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts have already become the Premiers and will now be looking for as much momentum as possible for the finals series, like their opponents.

Match preview

Melbourne City have had a season to remember so far having been crowned the Premiers after winning the regular season, and they now want to follow that up to become the champions after the finals series.

The hosts have a 10-point gap between themselves and their closest challengers, showcasing their dominance throughout the campaign.

That was on display last weekend when the team defeated Western United 3-1 following a hattrick from Jamie MacLaren and repeating that result would be welcomed.

Melbourne City will go directly to the semi-finals of the competitions next stage, where they could end up playing their opponents again.

That is why a positive result is important to both teams for mind games, while Melbourne City will simply be hoping to wrap up the campaign in style in front of their fans.

The visitors have guaranteed themselves a top-six finish, but winning on Friday has the possibility of taking them up to finish the regular season in second place if other results go in their favour.

Western Sydney Wanderers are undefeated in their last three matches and that form is something they will hope to take straight into the finals series.

Last time out saw four different players find the back of the net as the team defeated Wellington Phoenix 4-0, which should have injected plenty of confidence into the group.

However, if they want to take three points again Western Sydney Wanderers will need to do something that no other team has done this season; defeat Melbourne City at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.

The league leaders are undefeated at home this season, but playing away from home has not been a strong point for the visitors who have managed just three wins so far.

Melbourne City Australian A-League form:

D

D

W

W

D

W

Western Sydney Wanderers Australian A-League form:

L

W

L

D

W

W

Team News

MacLaren should start in this match after scoring a trio of goals in their last match and he will be leading the line once again.

Melbourne City were also boosted by Mathew Leckie and Richard van der Venne returning to the matchday squad last time out as they made appearances from the bench, boosting the squad depth.

The standard 4-4-2 formation is something that has worked well for the visitors as of late, and it is unlikely that things will change for this last match.

Marcelo recently signed a contract extension for next season and his experience at the back is likely to be called upon here.

Melbourne City possible starting lineup:

Glover; Talbot, Lam, Good, Bos; Berisha, Jamieson, O'Neill; Tilio, Nabboout, MacLaren

Western Sydney Wanderers possible starting lineup:

Thomas; Simmons, Mrcela, Marcelo, Traore; N'Gbakoto, Nieuwenhof, Schneiderlin, Amalfitano; Ninkovic, Borrello

We say: Melbourne City 2-0 Western Sydney Wanderers

This is set to be a closely contested game between two of the strongest teams in the division, but after winning the main league it is likely Melbourne City that will continue taking their momentum into the finals series.

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