Date: Friday October 9
Kick-off: 8:00pm AEDT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
TV and Radio: Live & exclusive broadcast on Fox Sports 1 HD and Sky Sport 2. Hyundai A-League club broadcast partner is 774 ABC Melbourne. To purchase tickets visit www.ticketmaster.com
Head-to-head
Played: 12. Wins: Melbourne 5, Sydney 2. Draws: 5
Previous meeting
Melbourne Victory 3, Sydney FC 2, Etihad Stadium, Round 17, December 2008
Past five matches:
Melbourne Victory:
Round 5: Melbourne Victory 1, Newcastle Jets 1, Etihad Stadium
Round 6: Melbourne Victory 1, Wellington Phoenix 1, Etihad Stadium
Round 7: Adelaide United 0, Melbourne Victory 2, Hindmarsh Stadium
Round 8: Gold Coast United 2, Melbourne Victory 3, Skilled Park
Round 9: Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney FC 1, Etihad Stadium
Sydney FC:
Round 5: Gold Coast United 2, Sydney FC 1, Skilled Park
Round 6: Sydney FC 0, North Queensland 1, Sydney Football Stadium
Round 7: Sydney FC 2, Newcastle Jets 1, Sydney Football Stadium
Round 8: Brisbane Roar 1, Sydney FC 0, Suncorp Stadium
Round 9: Sydney FC 1, Central Coast Mariners 0, Sydney Football Stadium
Analysis:
The top two teams on the table face off in a Friday night thriller at Etihad Stadium in an evening to celebrate the cultural diversity of the two cities they represent. The U-NITE concept is designed to bring all cultures together under the banner of football and given the diversity of backgrounds of the players from both sides, it should represent the positive influence that multiculturalism has had on the game and visa versa.
But the pre-match festivities aside, there will be little room for the warm-fuzzy feelings when these two rivals battle it out for top spot on the table. Melbourne has quite a few major rivals, but Sydney ranks right up there, with the two teams having fought out some epic battles over the years.
Arguably the best of them was their most recent clash in December last year when Sydney took a 2-0 lead inside the first three minutes only for Melbourne to rally back and win 3-2. From that point, the Victory never looked back, charging to their second championship success, while Sydney missed the finals.
But a lot has changed since that day, with Sydney appointing a new coach, Vitezslav Lavicka, who has given the side more defensive accountability. As a result, Sydney is now top of the table having conceded just seven goals in nine games. The three games the Sky Blues have lost have all been by just the one goal, while only one of their five wins has been by more than a one-goal margin.
What Lavicka has achieved is ironing out the inconsistencies that plagued the Sydney team over the past couple of years. While there are those who may criticise the fact that Sydney is not playing the most free-flowing football, the Czech coach has had to do without his marquee man, John Aloisi, for the past couple of weeks, while Kofi Danning, who set the Sky Blues alight earlier in the season, has been on national duty. Both of those players are set to return for this match, while the extended squad also contains Rhyan Grant, Matthew Jurman and Brendan Gan. Chris Payne misses out.
Terry McFlynn returned to the side last week after a few weeks off and he scored the winning goal against the Mariners, again proving a