After suffering back-to-back away defeats at the hands of Gold Coast and North Queensland, fourth-placed Perth Glory will be delighted to be back at their ME Bank fortress on Sunday when they take on second-placed Melbourne Victory. Dave Mitchell’s side have yet to be beaten on their own patch this season and comfortably accounted for Victory when the two sides met in Round 4.

In terms of Glory’s team selection, experienced central defender Andy Todd returns from suspension and will come straight back into the starting line-up, with Jamie Coyne switching to right-back at the expense of youngster Scott Neville. Marquee man Mile Sterjovski is also set to return after missing the last two games with an ankle injury, but on a less positive note for the West Australians, versatile Dutch midfielder Victor Sikora has been ruled out for at least two games with a hamstring tear.

Mate Dugandzic will hope to retain his place in Victory’s starting eleven after bagging two goals against Adelaide last week and the promising youngster will presumably be looking forward to the trip a lot more than team-mate Archie Thompson who has openly admitted that he hates away games at Perth. In fairness to the Socceroo striker, his dislike of playing at ME Bank Stadium is well founded, as the Victorian side have won there only once in seven visits.

The return of Todd is a huge boost for a Glory defence that has shown a worrying tendency to switch off at crucial times in the last two games, but they still face a stern test in trying to blunt a Victory attack that on its day is the most formidable in the A-League. Home advantage may just be enough for Glory to claim a point.

Prediction: Perth Glory 1-1 Melbourne Victory