After a 2:0 defeat against Sydney FC, Adelaide United come into the next fixture on a 4 games winless streak. This time around, Adelaide will hope they can bounce back against league leaders Perth Glory, who will visit Adelaide United on March 15th at Coopers Stadium.
Adelaide United come into this match after yet another defeat against Sydney FC, which marked their 2nd loss in the last 4 fixtures and 4th match in a row, they failed to win. In addition to being defeated against Sydney FC, Adelaide United also failed to defeat WS Wanderers (1:3) and only managed to grab a point against Melbourne City (1:1) and Newcastle Jets (0:0). Looking back at their match against Sydney FC, Adelaide did not perform up to par and on the level, they were expected to. With 14 goal attempts Adelaide only managed to produce 2 shots on goal, while Sydney were far more efficient with 5/11 shots on target. This not surprisingly resulted in Sydney scoring 2 goals, while all of Adelaide attempts were stopped. Adelaide attack was not as efficient, however, they gave away fewer fouls (14:9) and won more duels than Sydney (53:58), which is the only positive thing we can take from the match. As it stands now, Adelaide are 5th in the league and slowly falling out of the playoffs spot, with Melbourne City 1 point behind and Newcastle Jets 5 points behind Adelaide.
Perth Glory will come into the next fixture after 2 disappointing defeats, which gave the 2nd placed Sydney FC a chance to reduce the gap to 6 points in the title race. Looking back at the last 5 fixtures of Perth Glory, they managed to defeat Wellington Phoenix (3:0), Melbourne Victory (1:2) and Brisbane Roar (4:0), but as mentioned only managed to grab 2 points in the next two fixtures against WS Wanderers (1:1) and most recently Melbourne City (2:2). Looking back at their match against Melbourne City, Perth Glory only barely managed to grab a point. The match started with 2 goals from the home side in 26th and 35th minute, while Perth did not find an answer in the 1st half, which meant the teams went into the 2nd half 2 goals apart. But it all turned around in the second half when Perth Glory were the dominant side. They had 72% ball possession, 7 goal attempts and 3 shots on goal, while Melbourne City only held the ball 28% of the time and did not even get a chance to create a shot towards Perth goal. Despite all the pressure from the away side, the match was coming to an end with the scoreline still showing 2:0, which changed in the 84th minute when Perth finally managed to score a goal. Surprisingly enough they managed to squeeze in the equalizer in the 90’+1, which just barely clinched them a point.
Adelaide United come into this match after a terrible 0-2-2 run, and while they will want to earn at least a point against the league leaders to prevent dropping further down the leaderboard, this fixture won’t be an easy one for them. After a disappointing performance against Sydney FC, where they failed to produce many dangerous attacks, I have my doubts they will fare any better against the best defence in the league, which only conceded 20 goals thus far. On the other side, Perth Glory impressed with their comeback against Melbourne City, where they completely dominated the home side in the 2nd half, and deservingly got themselves a point. With two draws in their recent two fixtures, Perth cannot afford to lose more points going forward, if they wish to end up as the champions, which is why I believe they will take advantage of struggling Adelaide United and grab all 3 points.
Prediction: Perth Glory to win
Odds: 2.40 SBOBET
