There’s only one game to look forward to in the ISPS Handa Premiership this weekend, find out what’s in store with the official preview.

Eastern Suburbs vs Waitakere United
Bill McKinlay Park, Auckland
Sunday 4 March, 4.35pm
#ISPSHandaPrem #ESvWU
Live on SKY Sport

Referee: CK Waugh
Assistant Referees: T Chang, L Agnew
Fourth Official: AM Keighley

Squads
Eastern Suburbs (from):  1. Louie Caunter, 3. Ryan Elder, 6. Jordan Vale, 7. Tim Payne, 8. Moses   Dyer, 9. Max Mata, 10. Andre de Jong, 11.  Ben Thomas, 13. Kingsley Sinclair, 14.       Leon van den Hoven, 17. Michael Built, 18. Tristan Prattley, 20. Derek Tieku, 22. Hayden Johns, 29. Matthew Palmer, 36. Kelvin Kalua, 33. James Dunn, 24. Charles Spragg
Coach: Danny Hay

Waitakere United: 28. Liam Anderson (GK), 3. Stewart Mackay, 5. Julyan Collett, 7. Yuki Ohtsuka, 9. Ryan Cain, 10. Eder Franchini Pasten, 14. David Parkinson, 17. Jake Butler, 21. Dylan Windust, 23. Dylan Manickum, 36. Christian Gray, 26. Joshua Dijksta, 8. Andre Estay, 19. Thomas Shaw, 20. Rossi Nkoy, 24. Nicolas Zambr
Coach: Chris Milicich                                             

Lowdown                  
Both these sides will be itching to get back on the park after enforced lay-offs due to the quirks of the draw and have contrasting results to follow up. Eastern Suburbs posted an important 3-0 win over Tasman United – which put paid to their opponents’ play-off hopes – last time out but that was back on February 11 and they have since dropped to fourth on the table. While their play-off place remains secure, their main motivation is the home semi-final that a top-two finish would bring and three points are therefore a must in this catch-up game. In contrast, Waitakere’s previous outing was a 4-1 defeat to Team Wellington – a result that summed up their form in the second part of this season. They began the New Year promisingly with a pair of draws against classy opposition in Auckland City and Canterbury United but are yet to win in 2018 after slipping to four defeats since then. To make things even more galling for coach Chris Milicich, most of those defeats have come against sides he will have expected to beat and he will want to see some sort of reaction from his charges before the campaign is out. Waitakere United have never beaten Eastern Suburbs in the three meetings since the Lily Whites joined the ISPS Handa Premiership. The East Auckland outfit won 2-0 at Waitakere earlier this season, while in 2017 there was a 1-1 draw at Trusts Stadium and Suburbs prevailed 1-0 at William Green Domain.

Quotes
Danny Hay (Eastern Suburbs coach): “It has been a long time between games so we are really looking forward to getting back out there.  We know that Waitakere are a strong side and it is a local derby as well which makes it even more interesting. We want to get out there and carry on the form we showed before the mini break.”