Albury United hosts Wangaratta on Saturday night in top-of-the-table showdown

The best two sides in the competition have traded blows for months and they now go head-to-head at Jelbart Park hoping to land what could be the knockout punch.

They're locked together on 34 points and the 8pm kick-off is too close to call.

"We've been keeping our eye on this game for the last month," United coach Matt Campbell said.

"It's going to play a big part in determining the league title.

"Wangaratta is the team everyone wants to beat and we're no different.

"It's an important game, the biggest this year.

"We'll get this game in but who's to say whether we'll get the other four or five in?

"We need to make sure we get a good result just in case other rounds are cancelled."

United have won their last four games, scoring 22 goals in the process, but Wangaratta's form is even better.

Since losing 2-1 to Albury City in round three, they've taken 25 of a possible 27 points and victory on Saturday would hand them the chance to go six points clear by winning their game in hand.

"We're a little bit under-prepared, considering we couldn't train for two or three weeks, so that is a concern," coach Daniel Vasilevski admitted.

"We were given the option of playing this game next week but we want to play (now) and we're confident we can go to United and get a result.

"We know that if we can give a lot of effort into this one game, we can come away with a big reward.

"Their strength is going forward but they can be vulnerable at the back and that suits us.

"If we can get control of the middle of the park and give early balls into Adam Burchell, Dan Kelly and Jordan Hore, we can capitalise on that."

Burchell's 21 league goals, coming at almost two a game, make him a marked man.

"He's one of the best strikers I've seen in AWFA," Campbell said.

"His ability to be in the right spot and finish is unparalleled.

"Across the last decade, it's hard to think of another striker as dangerous as Burchell.

"The top five teams have all got some really talented strikers but Burchy's the one that always seems to score.

"There's something to be respected about that.

ALSO IN SPORT:

"It's not like he's a new player. We've seen him banging in goals for years but how do you deal with him?

"How do you slow him down? That's the question we need to be able to answer on Saturday.

"We know Wang sit deep. They make it hard for you to break them down and then with the pace of Jordy Hore and Burchy, in combination with Dan Kelly, they can hurt you on the counter."

Burchell and Kelly have 39 between them but United's goal threat is more varied.

Melkie Woldemichael has 14 and centre-half Jimmy Carr has weighed in with 11, while Gauthier Robin and Aidan Rees have nine apiece.

Both sides should be at full strength, with Sam Andrew available for the Greens after serving his suspension.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: