MELBOURNE. Melbourne City conquered Western United 3-1 thanks to J. Maclaren who scored in the 13th, 66th and 74th minute. Melbourne City was decisively better in terms of ball possession (71%) and that was among the factors of its victory.​

The match was played at the AAMI Park stadium in Melbourne on Saturday and it started at 7:45 pm local time. The referee was Chris Beath who was helped by Anton Schetinin and Andrew Meimarakis. The 4th official was Jonathon Barreiro. The weather was clear. The temperature was pleasant at 21 degrees Celsius or 69.71 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 88%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

Melbourne City had a strong ball possession 71% while Western United was struggling with a 29% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

Western United had a more offensive attitude with 54 dangerous attacks and 12 shots of which 6 were on target. Even so, Melbourne City found a way to find the solution to win this match.​

Western United shot 12 times, 6 on target, 3 off target. On the other side, Melbourne City shot 12 times, 7 on target, 4 off target.

Cards

Western United received 4 yellow cards (Dylan Pierias, Lachlan Wales, Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Connor Pain). Talking about the opposition, Melbourne City received 3 yellow cards (Nuno Reis, Scott Galloway and Callum Talbot).

Standings

After this match, Western United will stay with 29 points like Newcastle Jets to hold in the 8th place. On the other side, Melbourne City will have 52 points to hold in the 1st place.

Next matches

In the next match in the A-League, Western United will play away with Perth Glory on the 29th of April with a 6-2 head to head record in favor of Western United (1 draw).

Melbourne City will host Western Sydney Wanderers on the 28th of April with a 11-10 head to head record in favor of Western Sydney Wanderers (7 draws).

Western United – Formation

Western United started with a conservative line-up (4-4-2).

The manager John Aloisi decided to play with the following team: Jamie Young (6.1), Joshua Risdon (6.6), Tomoki Imai (6.2), Nikolai Topor-Stanley (7.0), Ben Garuccio (5.9), Dylan Pierias (6.3), Tongo Doumbia, Sebastian Pasquali (7.2), Steven Lustica (6.3), Connor Pain (6.4), Lachlan Wales (6.3) and Aleksandar Prijović (6.9).

The home team had on the bench: Ryan Scott, James Troisi (6.3), Noah Botic (6.3), Alessandro Diamanti (6.2), Neil Kilkenny, Léo Lacroix (7.0) and Michael Ruhs.

Substitutions

Western United made 5 changes: Aleksandar Prijović for Noah Botic (58′), Tomoki Imai for James Troisi (77′), Tomoki Imai for Léo Lacroix (77′), Connor Pain for Alessandro Diamanti (77′) and Dylan Pierias for Michael Ruhs (81′).

Best player: Sebastian Pasquali​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Western United was Sebastian Pasquali.

His rating is (7.2) with 32 passes (81% accurate) and 2 key passes. He was won 11 duels out of 17. He performed 2 crosses.

Melbourne City – Formation

Melbourne City started with a aggressive line-up (4-3-3).

Rado Vidošić played with: Tom Glover (7.1), Scott Galloway (6.3), Thomas Lam (7.3), Nuno Reis (7.1), Jordan Bos (7.2), Aiden O’Neill (6.6), Scott Jamieson (6.6), Florin Berenguer (6.7), Andrew Nabbout (7.8), Jamie MacLaren (9.1), Marco Tilio (6.9).

These were the players on the bench: Matthew Sutton, Richard van der Venne (7.3), Callum Talbot (6.7), Raphael Borges Rodrigues, Mathew Leckie (7.3), Jordon Hall (6.6) and Max Caputo.

Substitutions

Melbourne City made 5 changes: Aiden O’Neill for Richard van der Venne (64′), Scott Jamieson for Mathew Leckie (64′), Scott Galloway for Callum Talbot (64′), Thomas Lam for Jordan Hall (77′) and Jamie Maclaren for Max Caputo (87′).

Best player: Jamie MacLaren​

The player that probably impressed the most for Melbourne City was Jamie MacLaren.

His rating is (9.1) with 3 goals, 11 passes (90% accurate) and 0 key passes.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the A-League.​

• Western United – Melbourne City – 1-3
• Newcastle Jets – Central Coast Mariners – 1-3