Melbourne City and Perth Glory will begin the round with what is essentially a dead rubber tonight at Frank Holohan, after both sides had a disappointing 2020-2021 season and will not be able to make the finals.
However both teams will still have plenty of pride to play for when the game kicks-off tonight.
Friday afternoon is when the real drama begins, Canberra United hosts Sydney FC in a game that will have huge implications for both the finals and premiers race.
Sydney FC currently sit top with 24 points, and a game remaining after the clash with Canberra concludes. Should they beat Canberra they will be Premiers with a game to spare.
However, as Women’s Football expert Samantha Lewis pointed out on The World Game LIVE, Sydney loss their last game away to Adelaide on March 6 and due to a bye and wet weather, their last victory came a month ago away to Perth.
“Sydney’s situation I’m worried about - and I say this as a Sydney fan,” Lewis said.
“They are coming into two of the hardest games. They haven’t played a competitive match in three weeks. They are going to be coming into a Canberra match (without momentum) - against a Canberra side who are looking quite good.”
“Then they will have to play a game against Melbourne Victory a couple of days later.”
Sydney will take on Melbourne Victory at home at Cromer Park on Wednesday night.
Canberra will be fully determined to take all three points against Sydney, as they sit on 21 points, just one ahead of fifth-place Melbourne Victory who have the game in hand over Canberra.
However, it is possible Canberra will be happy to settle for a draw, as that would crucially put them level on points with Adelaide United who have played all 12 of their matches, but above Adelaide by one on goal difference.
Adelaide currently sit in third position, but should Canberra pick up at least one point and Melbourne Victory at least two points from a possible six then it would be the Reds who drop out of the top four.
Sunday’s early match will see Melbourne Victory host Perth Glory. Victory will start heavy favourites for this clash when they face Perth, who at the time of writing, sit bottom of the table with just one draw and zero wins from 10 games.
Victory currently sit in fifth position outside the finals race, but it’s possible that they could end up first if they win both their matches and Sydney FC fail to beat Canberra on Friday night.
However, should Victory slip on a banana skin that is Perth Glory at home, then they could face the very real possibility of missing the finals all together as they would then need to get at least a point, most likely three, away to Sydney FC in the final game.
In the later match on Sunday, Brisbane will host Newcastle and will be heavy favourites with the Jets are out of the finals race.
Should Brisbane win their match and Sydney fail to beat Canberra, Brisbane could either go a point above Sydney - or if the Sky Blues draw - then they would be equal on points but with the Roar above on goal difference.
There are an incredible amount of possibilities from how the final table could look.
“Sydney are confirmed in the top four - that’s guaranteed. Brisbane I think will definitely make the top four, there only two points behind Sydney and they have Newcastle to play,” said Lewis.
“Adelaide is going to be the difficult one. If Victory get three points from either of their matches and Canberra can get at least one point against Sydney then that means they would also be in the top four (and Adelaide would miss out).”
“It’s a really fitting finish for such a chaotic season, that everyone is literally on the edge of their seat. It’s wild!”
