Perth Glory coach Ian Ferguson expects Adelaide United to overcome their schedule and injury crisis to challenge his in-form side on Sunday.
The A-League match against Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium will be Adelaide’s third in eight days, following a 3-2 road loss to Central Coast and a 1-1 midweek draw with Newcastle in Bathurst.
They will also be without several of their key players, with Cassio (foot), Milan Susak (hamstring), Jon McKain (knee) and Zenon Caravella (adductor) among those on the injured list.
The injuries have helped contribute to a drop in United’s form, with the club winless in their past four games.
But Ferguson said he expected a determined effort from an Adelaide team desperate to get back into the finals race.
“No matter who plays or who they’ve got out we know it’s going to be a difficult job,” Ferguson said.
“They’ve got a good structure about them, they’re well organised and they’re fighting for each other and they’re playing well.”
“We’ve got to be in the right frame of mind, stick with what we’ve done over past five or six weeks and hopefully take the game to them.”
“We’re heading in the right direction, which is great, and we’ve been getting some great results over the past month.”
Perth enters the match in fantastic touch, with their six-game unbeaten streak seeing them climb to fifth and sitting just four points outside the top two, but they have injury problems of their own.
Ferguson said defender Josh Mitchell remains two to three weeks away with knee soreness which has not improved over the past fortnight, while the coach was optimistic Travis Dodd and Dean Heffernan could push for a return against Gold Coast on February 6.
