Its been a rough start to the A-League season as we have hit on just 3 of 8 tips in the first two rounds. Things seem to be starting to settle down, however, with teams getting players back from international duty and working their way into the start of a long season. We’ll look to take advantage of that as we preview the key games in Week 3 of the A-League below.
Adelaide United vs Melbourne Victory (Friday 7.50pm AEST)
Adelaide host the Victory in the round opener on Friday night. Melbourne are yet to secure a point this season after two tough losses to Sydney FC and Melbourne City in the opening two games. They have played arguably their hardest competition to open the season with stunted squads due to a few players on international duty. They’ll be hoping to get their first points of the season here as they travel to Adelaide with a full squad.
Adelaide United also looked like going 0-0-2 on the season as they trailed 0-1 in the dying stages of their games against Brisbane last Friday night. However, United slotted home goals in the 88th and 92nd minute of the game to give their team a thrilling win and their first points of the season.
Tough game to call here. Victory were arguably the better side in their loss to Melbourne City last weekend while Adealide probably didn’t deserve to win after trailing the whole game. We feel that Victory will have had a chance to get some continuity into their line-up this week after an inconsistent start to the season and we like them as underdogs here.
TIP: Melbourne Victory to win - $2.60 at Sportsbet
Melbourne City vs Wellington Phoenix (Saturday 5.35pm AEST)
While they were probably outplayed on the pitch at stages throughout the night, Melbourne City did the job they went to Etihad to do and defeated Victory 2-1 in an ugly contest. They now sit on top of the table with a 2-0-0 record and haven’t seemed to miss start striker Bruno Fornaroli, with speedy winger Bruce Kamau stepping in to score 3 goals through their 2 games so far.
Wellington had the hardest job in Australian football last weekend as they travelled to NSW to take on Sydney FC. They were valiant in defeat, scoring twice in the 3-2 loss but ultimately succumb to a 0-1-1 record on the season.
Melbourne City are flying at the moment and after a stretch on the sidelines while representing the Socceroos, they should get Tim Cahill back in full fitness this week. It’s always a hard task to travel to Wellington but with this one being in Melbourne we think City should be too strong here.
TIP: Melbourne City HT/FT - $2.25 at Ladbrokes
Sydney FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers (Saturday 7.50pm AEST)
The Sky Blues haven’t been as dominant as they were last season to open their 2017-18 campaign but have nonetheless secured 2 wins to open the season. They face off against cross town rivals, the Western Sydney Wanderers this weekend, who have a 1-1-0 record through their opening games.
Predictably, Sydney FC start as firm favourites for this clash, and while they were undefeated through their previous nine clashes against the Wanderers, Western Sydney did defeat them in their last game, a 1-0 in February of this year. Coincidentally that was Sydney FC’s only loss for the year and they’ll be hoping to avenge that one this weekend.
As we mentioned above, Sydney Football Stadium is a tough place to go play, the Sky Blues demonstrated that last year by going undefeated throughout the season and conceding just 4 goals at home. Whenever teams play there, it’s usually a defensive slugfest. Only one goal has been scored in the team’s last two meetings and we are predicting this one to be a similar type contest.
TIP: Total goals UNDER 2.5 - $1.96 at Sportsbet
Brisbane Roar vs Newcastle Jets (Sunday 5pm AEST)
Brisbane looked to have control over their game last weekend until, as we mentioned above, Adelaide came storming home in the final minutes. The Roar now sit on the bottom of the table after two tough defeats and will be looking to get their first point of the season at home on Sunday.
Promising signs for the men in orange, however, as start recruit Massimo Maccarone slotted home a goal in their loss to Adelaide. We picked Newcastle to be one of the teams that would really struggle this season but through two games they have one win and one draw to their name and have scored the most goals in the league with a whopping seven. Striker Roy O’Donovan has scored 4 of them and shows no signs of slowing down.
The Jets pack a pretty powerful punch going forward with Andrew Nabbout, Ronald Vargas and O’Donovan all in attack and the Roar have leaked at least two goals in both of their fixtures so far this year. We like Newcastle to find the back of the net at least that many times here.
TIP: Newcastle to score 2+ goals - $2.10 at CrownBet
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