Melbourne Victory heading for another A-League Women grand final after preliminary final win over Melbourne City

Melbourne Victory will face Sydney FC in a second consecutive A-League Women grand final after beating Melbourne City 3-1 in the preliminary final to keep their dreams of going back-to-back alive.

Melina Ayres opened the scoring in the 30th minute, with Claudia Bunge adding a second just before half-time, before Lia Privitelli rounded out the win in the 53rd minute.

City's Tori Tumeth headed home in the 80th minute but it proved only a consolation goal, as the resurgent Victory made amends for their humiliating 5-1 Boxing Day derby loss.

Jeff Hopkins' side were winless in five games before finals and scraped into the top four on goal difference.

But they upset Adelaide, then dominated City at AAMI Park on Sunday to book their ticket to the decider.

City were without veterans Melissa Barbieri and Tyla-Jay Vlajnic, who were sent off in their semi-final loss to Sydney, while Victory welcomed Kyra Cooney-Cross back from suspension.

Victory spurned two early golden chances, with Ayres toe-poking wide in the fifth minute while the otherwise brilliant Alex Chidiac hit another straight at City goalkeeper Sally James 10 minutes later.

Meanwhile, Victory goalkeeper Casey Dumont pulled off a top-drawer save in the 11th minute to deny a fierce long-range strike from Rebekah Stott, who was celebrating her 100th ALW match.

Victory snatched the lead when City skipper Emma Checker attempted to pass across her body and Ayres forced a turnover, before coolly finishing past James.

Five minutes later, Catherine Zimmermann skied a back-post tap-in wide but Victory doubled their lead regardless in the second minute of first-half injury time.

Courtney Nevin floated a lovely corner to the back post, where Bunge toe-poked a volley home.

Eight minutes into