Date: Saturday March 20
Kick-off: 7:00pm AEDT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Head-to-head
Played 17: Melbourne Victory 6, Sydney FC 4, Draws 7
Previous Meeting
Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, March 2010 (semi final (2nd leg) (2-1 after normal time)
Past five matches:
Melbourne Victory:
Round 25: Gold Coast United 1, Melbourne Victory 0, Skilled Park
Round 26: Melbourne Victory 2, North Queensland Fury 0, Etihad Stadium
Round 27: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney Football Stadium
MSF - 1st Leg: Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney FC 1, Etihad Stadium
MSF - 2nd leg: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney Football Stadium (Melbourne progresses 4-3 on aggregate)
Sydney FC:
Round 25: Brisbane Roar 1, Sydney FC 0, Suncorp Stadium
Round 26: Sydney FC 3, Perth Glory 2, Sydney Football Stadium
Round 27: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney Football Stadium
MSF - 1st Leg: Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney FC 1, Etihad Stadium
MSF - 2nd leg: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney Football Stadium (Melbourne progresses 4-3 on aggregate)
Preliminary Final: Sydney FC 4, Wellington Phoenix 2, Sydney Football Stadium
Analysis:
History
After 141 Hyundai A-League games, the bragging rights for the 2009-10 season comes down to the sixth and final battle of the season between Melbourne and Sydney. Saturday's Grand Final is the culmination of five years of rivalry between the two biggest clubs in the competition.
Sydney has the edge in terms of achievements this season, having won the Premiers' Plate in dramatic fashion when it beat Melbourne 2-0 at the SFS in the final match of the regular season. But while the Sky Blues won the inaugural championship back in 2006, Melbourne holds the honour as the most successful club with Grand Final wins over Adelaide in 2007 and 2009.
The Victory are the first team to have the opportunity to defend their title, but know, having lost to Sydney twice this season, that it will be a major task. The Sky Blues dominated the regular season encounters between the two, winning 2-0 back in October at Etihad Stadium, before drawing 0-0 in December.
The 2-0 success in the final round looked to give Sydney a clear psychological edge ahead of the finals, but an under-strength Melbourne responded superbly by winning 2-1 in the first leg of the major semi-final. An epic second leg went to extra time after Sydney prevailed 2-1, where Archie Thompson struck to book Melbourne a home Grand Final.
In the five weeks since that final match of the season, things have turned about completely. While back then, Melbourne was missing key personnel through injury and was wondering how it would gain the momentum back from Sydney, ahead of this match it is FC which has an injury crisis and needs to turn around things from that semi-final defeat.
At the selection table
Marquee striker John Aloisi tore a hamstring in the 4-2 Preliminary Final win over Wellington, while veteran skipper Steve Corica was forced into retirement ahead of the finals with the same problems. It means Sydney must win the title without its two leaders, leaving Terry McFlynn to captain the side in this match.
Sydney has included Shannon Cole, who has had hamstring problems of his own and he will battle with former Victory defender Sebastian Ryall for the spot in defence. Joe Gibbs has been included in an extended