Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne Victory: Round 8 Preview

Gary van Egmond and the Newcastle Jets have a chance for revenge tomorrow night when they host the Melbourne Victory. In round 3, when these two teams first met, Melbourne did to Newcastle what the Socceroos did to Qatar: thrashed them.

Newcastle are sitting sixth on the ladder, a solid three points away from the fourth-placed Central Coast Mariners. Joel and Adam Griffiths return for the Jets tomorrow, both having recovered from their injuries. Youngsters James Holland and Ben Kantarovski make their comebacks after completing their international duties.

Melbourne also has a number of players returning to the fold: Michael Theoklitos and Carlos Hernández are both back from suspension, while Michael Thwaite appears to have recovered from his injury. Back to the bench for Mitch Langerak, Tom Pondeljak and Steven Pace, all of whom had strong performances against the Perth Glory a fortnight ago.

Last time we played Newcastle, I tipped “utter destruction”. I’m going to be a little bit more reserved this time and just tip a solid 2 goal win.

My tips for the weekend:

• Queensland Roar to beat Adelaide United narrowly. Both teams are on a roll at the moment, but I think the Roar should make their home advantage count for them.
• Newcastle Jets to suffer a slightly more dignified loss to the mighty Melbourne Victory than last time. Maybe 1-3, perhaps 0-2. I’m not too fussed really.
• Perth Glory to lose to Sydney FC. While I’d love to see Perth inject some life into their season, I’m afraid Sydney are going to swamp them this weekend. Who knows, maybe John Aloisi will get his first goal in Sydney colours.
• Central Coast Mariners to beat Wellington Phoenix. Wellington have pulled four points out of their last two games, but I’d be surprised to see them get anything in Gosford.