Glory still sweating on star A-League duo

Thursday, 23 January 2020:

Wanderers coach TONY POPOVIC.
Wanderers coach TONY POPOVIC.


Perth Glory coach Tony Popovic has ruled out returns for Juande and Osama Malik this weekend, and says Chris Ikonomidis and Ivan Franjic are no certainties to be fit for selection.

Malik (hamstring) hasn't played since round four, while Juande has missed the past two matches with a groin injury.

Ikonomidis (knee) and Franjic (calf) both missed last week's 1-0 win over the Wanderers, but the duo are keen to play in Saturday night's blockbuster clash with Melbourne City at AAMI Park.

Popovic says Ikonomidis and Franjic will need to prove their fitness on the track first.

"He (Ikonomidis) is feeling better," Popovic said before training on Thursday afternoon.

"He trained a little with the group yesterday, and we expect him to do the session today. We'll make an assessment after consulting with him to see how he feels.

"We know he's a lot more positive, but we need him to be able to go at 100 per cent in the game. If he can, he'll travel. But if he can't, we'll wrap him up and hopefully it will be next week.

"(Franjic is) similar to Chris. They did a part of the session yesterday, a very short probably 30 minutes together the two of them."

Glory's club-record six-match winning run has seen them rocket from last spot up to third.

That winning run started with a 3-0 away victory over Melbourne City, and Popovic hopes history repeats itself this Saturday.

If it does, Glory will leapfrog City into second spot.

"We can take a lot probably psychologically into the game," Popovic said after reflecting on the 3-0 win against City.

"We lost to Melbourne Victory the week before, we were bottom of the table and then we put in a really good performance.

"That's a real positive for us and since then I feel we've gotten better.

"We're very happy to have the (club winning) record. It's something that doesn't happen too often.

"We're very pleased to create some more history here at this football club, and we'll do everything to keep it going."






AAP






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