Date: Sunday, February 5
Kick-off: 5pm AEDT
Venue: Sydney Football Stadium
Head-to-head
Played 21: Wins: Sydney 12, Newcastle 3, Draws: 6
Previous encounter
Newcastle 1, Sydney 2, December 17, 2011
History:
Sydney easily have the wood over the Jets in the history of the A-League with the Novocastrians winning just three of the 21 meetings between the two clubs, the last of those way back in November 2009. The Sky Blues have taken all three points on 12 of those occasions including when they last met at Ausgrid Stadium towards the end of 2011. Despite going behind to a Jeremy Brockie volley in the first half, Sydney hit back with second half goals to Bruno Cazarine and Juho Makela to claim a vital victory.
Form:
Past five matches:
Sydney: LLDWD
Newcastle: LDLDW
Sydney look to have put their six-game winless run behind them picking up four points in their last two matches. But it might be just a bit premature to say they are back to their promising early season form. One thing is for sure though is that the Sky Blues definitely possess the right character, coming from a goal down to beat the Gold Coast a fortnight ago before coming from two down to snatch a draw with Melbourne Victory on Australia Day. If they can sort out their starts, the wins should continue to flow.
Just how do you predict what the Jets are going to do from week to week? So lacklustre and unimaginative in their last few games, Gary van Egmond’s side pulled off one of the shocks of the season in beaten champions Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium last weekend. It’s a result that has Newcastle right back in top six calculations and if they can get a rare win over Sydney here, they will leapfrog their opponents into the top six. No more incentive needed for the Jets to perform again.
Match Committee:
Sydney have lost two players to Australian Under-23 duty with Sebastian Ryall and Dimitri Petratos both away with Aurelio Vidmar’s squad. The Sky Blues will also still be without young midfielder Terry Antonis (hamstring), while Brett Emerton, who was forced off early against the Victory last week with a hamstring injury, is also out.
No major injury problems for the Jets although they do lose midfielder Ben Kantarovski to Australian Under-23 duty. Youngster Jacob Pepper or skipper Jobe Wheelhouse are the two most likely players to slot into his midfield position.
Danger men:
Bruno Cazarine – Despite being in and out of the starting side this season, Cazarine is still Sydney’s best finisher and main man in front of goal. The Brazilian has popped up with vital goals in the last two games to take his tally for the season to six. Cazarine is a real handful in the air but also deserves more credit for his ability with the ball at his feet.
Jobe Wheelhouse – Wheelhouse missed a few games with injury recently and the Jets certainly felt his absence. Has taken on even greater responsibility since Kasey Wehrman’s omission and has relished it. Not known for his goal-scoring ability, Wheelhouse is in a rich vein of form in front of goal of late, backing up his equaliser against Adelaide in Bathurst just over a week ago with the winner against the Roar last weekend.
At the end of the