Essendon is in Adelaide for its round three match with Port Adelaide tonight.

The Bombers have stuck with the same line-up that defeated Melbourne, while the Power have made three changes as they look to rebound from a loss to Adelaide. 

Can the Bombers match it in the midfield?

Hamish Hartlett and Chad Wingard will dent the Power’s strength in the midfield and attack, but they still boast a powerful line-up.

Port Adelaide is the best-contested ball side in the competition this season, while Essendon is ranked 17^th.

But the Bombers cohesion is growing.  Last week, they recorded 128 more possessions that Melbourne and getting first use of the ball will be another important factor tonight. 

David Zaharakis is leading the way.  He's ranked number one for metres gained in the AFL and is in the top five for possessions.

Can the Essendon defence weather the storm?

Port Adelaide may have suffered a big loss in the Showdown but it wasn’t through lack of opportunity.

The Power booted the ball inside 50 on 70 occasions against the Crows, but only managed to take six marks in the attacking area.

With players like Travis Boak, Robbie Gray and Ollie Wines rotating through the midfield, it’s not surprising the Power forwards get their fair share of opportunities.

As Robert Shaw pointed out in his preview Adelaide was able to curtail the forward entries against the Power last Saturday and Essendon will need to do that same.

If James Kelly, Mark Baguley and James Gwilt can marshal their teammates as well as they did last week, the Bombers will be well placed.

Essendon is ranked third for intercept positions this season. 

Was last week be a once off?

There is still a lot to play out but on what we know so far – you would have to suggest not.

Essendon didn’t just get over the line against Melboure – the Bombers outplayed an opposition coming off their own morale-boosting win for the full four quarters.

But for some inaccurate kicking, the margin could have been greater.

The Essendon backline was well structured and 13 players registered 20 possessions or more.

The side will have grown so much belief from last week and the performance suggested more wins are in store.