Melbourne Victory has named an extended 17-man squad for Saturday night’s clash with Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.
George Howard and Jai Ingham have been promoted, while Daniel Georgievski drops out after undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone this week.
Georgievski sustained the injury in Monday night’s 6-1 win over Wellington Phoenix, a result that moved Victory up to third place on the Hyundai A-League ladder.
New signing Max Biester is yet to reach full fitness and will miss the trip to Sydney, while Carl Valeri is out for another week with hamstring soreness.
Victory has not lost to Sydney since January 2014, recording four wins and five draws since then.
But the Sky Blues have made an ideal start to the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season with four wins from as many matches.
Sydney is also aiming to become the first Hyundai A-League team to record six straight clean sheets on Saturday night.
Victory is unbeaten away from home this season, with a 1-1 draw against Brisbane Roar in Round 1 followed by a 2-1 win over Adelaide United in Round 3.
Victory’s Marco Rojas and Sydney’s Milos Ninkovic are the only players in the Hyundai A-League to have both scored and assisted multiple goals this season.
Rojas leads the competition with four goals and three assists, while Ninkovic has two goals and two assists.
The two teams met three times last season, with Victory recording two wins and a draw.
Victory and Sydney are playing for the beyondblue Cup on Saturday night, promoting awareness of mental health prevention and management.
The match will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 505 from 7.30pm AEDT. Tickets are available here.
Renew or join as a Melbourne Victory member and stand Arm in Arm with us in 2016/17. Click here for more details.
Hyundai A-League 2016/17 Round 5
Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, November 5, 7.50pm AEDT
Allianz Stadium, Sydney
TV:Â Live on Fox Sports 505 from 7.30pm AEDT
Radio: A-League Live via the ABC Radio app, EON Sports Radio, SEN 1116
Online: Join the conversation on social media using #SYDvMVC
Melbourne Victory squad (one to be omitted): 2.Jason GERIA, 4.Nick ANSELL, 6.Leigh BROXHAM (c), 7.Marco ROJAS, 8.Besart BERISHA, 10.James TROISI, 11.Mitch AUSTIN, 13.Oliver BOZANIC, 14.Fahid BEN KHALFALLAH, 15.Alan BARO, 16.Rashid MAHAZI, 17.James DONACHIE, 19.George HOWARD, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 22.Stefan NIGRO, 23.Jai INGHAM, 27.Alastair BRAY (gk)
Ins: 19.George HOWARD (promoted), 23.Jai INGHAM (promoted)
Outs: 5.Daniel GEORGIEVSKI (collarbone – 3-4 weeks)
Unavailable: 21.Carl Valeri (soreness – 1 week)
