Melbourne Heart FC face Perth Glory on Sunday afternoon at nib Stadium in Round Three of the Hyundai A-League. Check out five things you should know ahead of today’s clash.
Melbourne Heart FC face Perth Glory on Sunday afternoon at nib Stadium in Round Three of the Hyundai A-League. Check out five things you should know ahead of today-s clash.
Mifsud set for debut
The big news this week in player movement at Melbourne Heart is the return of Maltese international Michael Mifsud.
Mifsud is set to debut for the Heart against Glory and poses a selection headache for Head Coach John Aloisi who will have to make room for the diminutive striker in Heart-s front third – which was impressive against the reigning champions Central Coast Mariners last Saturday.
With captain Harry Kewell still sidelined, David Williams – who scored a brace last week – is likely to fill the hole behind the front three – which could be made up of a combination of Iain Ramsay, Mifsud, Mate Dugandzic or Golgol Mebrahtu.
Recent head-to-head results suggest tight encounter
Melbourne Heart defeated Glory on two occasions last season – snatching a last-gasp 1-0 win through Mebrahtu-s stoppage-time strike in December, before a Nick Kalmar free-kick and a strike from Eli Babalj gave the Red and White a 2-0 win at AAMI Park in February.
But the last time Heart travelled to nib Stadium, the side suffered a 2-0 loss.
The sides also faced off twice in Perth during Melbourne Heart-s pre-season camp in Western Australia, with the results favouring Glory (1-1, 1-0) in two heated encounters, played in extreme conditions.
Head-to-head Hyundai A-League 2012-13
Melbourne Heart are yet to concede from open play.
Melbourne Heart have conceded twice thus far, with both goals coming from the penalty spot against the Mariners.
The side has formed a formidable and compact defensive unit in the side-s first two matches, led by Patrick Kisnorbo and Robbie Wielaert.
Glory have scored just once – from a set piece from Ryo Nagai-s header against Adelaide United in Round One.
Hoffman proving his worth at right back
Jason Hoffman proved against the Mariners in Round Two that he can hold his own in the right-back position, finishing the match as the game-s most effective tackler with seven out of seven successful tackles.
Melbourne-s Aziz Behich was the second most effective, with five successful tackles out of eight attempts. At the end of Round two, Hoffman was in the A-League-s top 10 in terms of percentage of duels won, with a 76.5 per cent success rate from 17 duels.
Follow the game live on Twitter
You can follow Saturday-s match on the Official Melbourne Heart FC Twitter Account with updates throughout the day, for the full 90 minutes and post-match reaction.
We will be using the official hashtag #PERvMHT for game-related Tweets.
