The Jets hit the road again for a midweek clash with Western Sydney Wanderers as we look to bounce back from our heartbreaking defeat against Victory on Saturday.
Our side was in it to our eyeballs on Saturday evening, before conceding a devastating 93rd-minute goal to miss out on a point against Victory.
Western Sydney are coming off the back of a string of frustrating matches, which includes their 2-all draw with the Central Coast Mariners last week.
This game shapes up as a must-win for both sides who are desperate to keep in touch with the top six as we enter the final straight of the season.
Here’s the full breakdown of Wednesday night’s clash:
WESTERN SYDNEY WANDERERS V NEWCASTLE JETS
Date: Wednesday 20th April 2022
Kick-off: 7:05pm
Venue: CommBank Stadium
How to Watch: Paramount+
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played: 27
Jets: 9
Wanderers: 9
Drawn: 9
CHASING THE CLEAN SWEEP
The head-to-head record of these two sides is identical in what has been a tough contest across the history of the A-League.
Each side has won nine matches and drawn the same amount of times, however our side have the opportunity this Wednesday to go unbeaten by Western Sydney in a season, a feat that our team have achieved five times since the Wanderers were introduced in 2012.
We were victorious in the last meeting with the Wanderers, coming out 1-0 winners at McDonald Jones Stadium. The Jets also boast an impressive record in away games against Western Sydney, having lost just three times from the 14 matches played in Sydney’s West and with our season coming to a close, our side will be desperate to build on this strong record on Wednesday night.
Additionally, in the previous ten meetings between the Jets and the Wanderers, our side has lost just once as recent history seems to be in the favour of our side.
FIVE MATCHES, FIVE FINALS
This season has reached its crunch point, and our side will be desperate to collect three points on Wednesday night to reignite our run to the finals.
With five matches remaining, all the talk from the players and Manager Arthur Papas has been to treat each of our remaining matches as sudden-death finals. With crucial games approaching against teams also vying for a place in the top six, points will be at a premium and our side needs to start collecting them in a hurry.
We have a potential of 15 points up for grabs across the remaining five matches, meaning we could finish on a maximum points tally of 40 points – in the previous five seasons the average points tally of the team finishing in sixth place is 37. Collecting every available point would see us very much in contention for a finals place.
Additionally, wins over Western Sydney, the Mariners and Macarthur would greatly benefit our side, as these sides are currently a part of the logjam at the back end of the top six and are all fighting for what looks to be the final spot in the A-League finals.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Savvas Siatravanis (Newcastle Jets)
The dynamic winger has slowly but surely begun hitting his straps in the Starting XI and is benefiting from more game-time with a string of strong performances. Siatravanis will be hoping to continue his steady improvement with another solid match on Wednesday night.
Savvas was one of our most dangerous attacking players against Victory on Saturday night, scoring his first goal for the club and completing 86% of his attempted passes.
The Greek winger has been superb at finding his teammates and providing crucial passes this season, having made 11 key passes to date and passing with a success rate of 87% so far this season.
The 29-year-old forward has been building nicely in recent weeks and will be looking for another strong performance against Western Sydney.
James Troisi (Western Sydney Wanderers)
The Australian representative has been a key member of the Wanderers squad this season and is a large contributor to most of their winning performances.
Troisi was solid in his last outing against Central Coast Mariners despite Western Sydney being unable to claim a victory and is coming off a string of good performances as he heads into this fixture.
The 33-year-old midfielder has been a studious worker for the Wanderers of late, having had more touches in his previous match than any other Western Sydney players and with a final product of 85% of his passes being successful from his 90 minutes on the pitch.
He is also Western Sydney’s leading player for key passes per match with an average of two, and leads possessions won in the final third with 13. His work off the ball provides just as much for the Wanderers as his work on the ball, and our side will need to be wary of him if we are to stop the Wanderers.
STATS AND FACTS
Across history, these two sides have completely identical records. While we’ve never lost playing at the new CommBank stadium, we’ve also never won having played out three draws so far.
Dimitri Petratos requires just one goal to equal Mark Bridge as the top scorer in this fixture – interestingly, both have played for Western Sydney and Newcastle.
Although the record between the Jets and Wanderers is identical, our side enjoys a slightly superior goal difference over Western Sydney, having scored three more goals than them across our 27 matchups.
Beka Mikeltadze requires just one goal to move into the top ten all-time goal scorers, he is currently tied in 11th place with Michael Bridges on 12 goals.
We head into this game equal second in the league for shots on target per match with 5.1, which is in direct contrast to Wanderers who sit in second last for this statistic with 4.1 shots on target per 90 minutes.
Both sides enjoy playing a possessive style of football and are ranked first and second for average possession stats in the league. Our side lead this stat with 56% but are closely followed by Western Sydney with 55%.
