Last weekend was a Grand Final rematch, but this Saturday night it’s a battle between last season’s first and second place in the Hyundai A-League.
The Jets are at home to Sydney FC, a place which last season wasn’t a happy hunting ground for the Sky Blues.
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Here’s this week’s fixture facts, thanks to the hard work of stats guru, Dave Keating.
Matches
There have been a total of 41 matches between these two teams, but it’s Sydney who has a clear advantage in that history which stretches back to 2005.
The Sky Blues have won 25 of the total encounters between the two sides, while the Jets have emerged victorious on seven occasions. There have been nine draws.
Newcastle’s biggest ever win over Sydney FC came back in the 2011/12 season, when an early Nikolai Topor-Stanley goal and Jeremy Brockie double helped the side to a 5-2 win at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The last time that Sydney came to Newcastle was that memorable afternoon back in March, when Dimi Petratos and Andrew Nabbout scored in a 2-1 win.
Can the Jets dig in and grab a similar result this weekend against the current league leaders?
Goals
Despite the disparity in wins, things are relatively closer in terms of goals – the Jets have scored 40 goals to Sydney’s 66.
That margin closes further in matches played in Newcastle, with the Jets picking up 19 goals compared to the Sky Blues’ 31.
There are five Jets players who hold the mantle of leading scorer in this fixture: Milton Rodriguez, Ryan Griffiths, Jeremy Brockie, Michael Bridges, and Jobe Wheelhouse with three each.
Alex Brosque leads the way for Sydney with 12.
Talking points
In that Round 22 meeting at McDonald Jones Stadium last year, the Jets attracted their largest regular season home crowd for 2017/18: 18,156.
This match will be the 50th Hyundai A-League appearance for Lachlan Jackson in Newcastle Jets colours, should he continue to occupy the left-back position which he’s held for the previous three weeks.
Opta stats have also indicated that despite the scoreless outing last weekend, Ronnie Vargas created an incredible nine scoring chances against Victory – the most since Thomas Broich back in 2013.
There will be a couple of men giving Ernie Merrick headaches throughout the week – Ben Kantarovski is continuing his return from injury while Angus Thurgate is training well, back in Newcastle after his time with the Young Socceroos.
