Following a terrific result in our first appearance at home this season, our Liberty A-League side travel to face the Western Sydney Wanderers with the focus of rolling on with our momentum.
Our Jets managed to put five goals away last Friday at McDonald Jones Stadium – the first time we’ve done so since early 2018 – to complete a 5-1 victory against Wellington.
The Wanderers still remain winless after their first two matches but did show promising signs against a well-oiled Sydney FC team last weekend and will provide a challenge playing at home.
This clash is set to be an exciting one as both teams look to move into the top echelon of the ladder.
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS V NEWCASTLE JETS
Date: Friday 17 December 2021
Kick-off: 5:05pm
Venue: Wanderers Centre of Football
How to Watch: Paramount+
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 12
Jets: 6
Draws: 0
Wanderers: 6
MILESTONE MATCH
This Friday marks a historic day for our team with multiple players celebrating special milestones, including captain Cass Davis who will run out for her 100th consecutive game – an achievement no Women has ever done before.
Davis started her Jets career in 2013 and since then has never missed a match. She’ll be hoping to collect three points on her big day, as will teammates Sunny Franco and Emily van Egmond who both also enjoy big matches this Friday too.
Sunny Franco will bring up her 50th appearance in the league after a career that started in 2013 and has spanned across four clubs.
Emily van Egmond will also run out for the 100th time in the Liberty A-League this weekend with the Club where she made her debut back in 2008. Since then, van Egmond has enjoyed multiple stints with her hometown team, and also spent time in Europe, USA, the UK, and fellow Australian clubs.
EVEN RECORDS
Since the Wanderers joined the competition back in 2012, the two sides have met a total of 12 times and there’s nothing to separate them.
There hasn’t been a single draw in that time with the tie currently sitting at six wins apiece.
That same kind of form has been experienced in recent times too over their last five meetings. Jets have managed to win three, while the Wanderers have picked up two victories.
There’s not too much difference between the teams compared to playing at home or away either. There’s been seven matches in Western Sydney so far, with the hosts picking up four victories, compared to the Jets’ three.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Elizabeth Eddy (Newcastle Jets)
Despite only landing in Newcastle a few days before Round One, Elizabeth Eddy has had no issue adjusting to her new surroundings and teammates.
She’s showed great glimpses of her ability throughout each of the games so far with a certain composure on the ball, and a great passing range both in spreading the play, and finding players in behind the defence.
Her control in the midfield in Round One was vital, but last weekend she showed her versatility by stepping into the right back position. She will once again be something the side will rely on this Friday night.
Libby Copus-Brown (Western Sydney Wanderers)
Copus-Brown will meet many of her former teammates this weekend when the Jets come to visit having played at the Club from 2014 to 2020.
The young midfielder made 29 appearances in a Jets jersey before making the switch to the Wanderers last season and has become a core part of their team since.
She will be rather familiar with most of our current players and our Jets are to take all three points this weekend, Copus-Brown will be someone they need to nullify.
STATS & FACTS
Our goal scoring record against the Wanderers in recent games bodes well for our side having scored in three of our past four clashes, and with a total of nine.
Amongst those goals, Tara Andrews have scored three and will be confident of adding to that tally having managed to score a double last weekend, taking her overall club tally to 41.
With a big day of milestone matches coming up, both Davis and Van Egmond will be hoping their 100th doesn’t go the same way as their 50th games which both resulted without wins.
Both Van Egmond and Eddy pulled off some great passing numbers last weekend that they will be hoping to showcase once again with Van Egmond creating four chances from 83% passing accuracy, while Eddy finished with 88% accuracy while also securing 87% accuracy from her passes in the opposition half.
