Despite the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, A-League Round 24 will take place this weekend. There are five fixtures on the cards, all of which will take place in front of empty crowds. As always, we run you through our best plays for the upcoming weekend as we look to continue our fantastic form in 2020!
A-League Round 24 Betting Tips
Central Coast Mariners vs Melbourne City
Friday, 5:30pm AEDT
The Mariners were losers again last weekend when they fell 1-0 away to Brisbane, making it nine straight league losses in a horrible stretch for their club. It’s been another really poor campaign for the perennial wooden spooners who will be glad when this season comes to an end.
Melbourne City had to settle for a share of the points in their most recent game against the Wanderers. City were the heavy favourites going into that encounter, but just lacked the polish going forward to make the most of their chances. Despite their recent stumble, City are still clear in second spot on the ladder.
Melbourne City are clearly the better team in this matchup and are still very much in play for a top two spot. Expect their motivation levels to be a lot higher than the Mariners who are destined to finish on the bottom yet again. Needless to say, we expect City to win this one comfortably.
Melbourne City -1.5
$2.44
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Sydney FC
Saturday, 7:30pm AEDT
The Wanderers split the points against City in Melbourne last weekend, which was a bit of a surprise considering their poor loss to Brisbane Roar the week prior. The Wanderers need more surprise results if they’re to feature in the finals however, as they come into this in eighth and are sandwiched between teams in a lot better form than they are.
Sydney FC were held to their first 0-0 draw on their home deck when they hosted Perth Glory last weekend. Interestingly, Sydney have now failed to score on their home deck in their past two matches, which has come after scoring 19 in their eight games prior. Despite this recent slump, Sydney are still very well placed at the top of the table.
The Wanderers have won both meetings between these clubs this season, handing Sydney their only two defeats for their impressive campaign to date. We can’t see them making it 3/3 and are more than happy to back in the defending champs to get one back on their rivals.
Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne City
Monday, 7:30pm AEDT
Both the Jets and City will be playing their second game of the round when they go head to head on Monday night. The Jets come into this round as arguably the form team of the competition after going six straight games without a loss (3W, 3D). This turn in form has been surprising and may have come a little too late with the season likely coming to an end shorter than planned.
As mentioned above, Melbourne City were held to a 1-1 draw at home to the Wanderers last weekend. It was certainly a disappointing result when they’re trying to claim a top two spot, however, their form over the past five games has still been very good (3W, 1D, 1L). City are currently one point ahead of Phoenix, but have played an extra game at the time of writing.
Melbourne City have certainly been the better of these two clubs this season, but the Jets have now put together two really strong months of play and are a side that no one wants to come up against. They’re 3-1-0 in their last four league games and if they can bring the same level of intensity as weeks prior, then we can see them causing the upset here.
