A-League Round 23 Tips

Once upon a time this match would have won the match of the season award at a canter. But not now; the Roar are atrocious and simply will not have the answers for this Sydney side. Sydney have climbed into second on the ladder, despite losing to Melbourne City most-recently, but they’ll be rightly confident of securing all three competition points at the expense of a Roar side that’s still a shout of finishing last. There will be tens of fans reading this and thinking ‘Now, hang on there. The Roar won last time they played Sydney!’. Fair point, that did happen. But in what world are they pulling that off again? Sky Blues to put on a clinic.

If you had told me at the start of the season that a Phoenix vs Jets game could decide the season, I would have scoffed at you. I’d still scoff at you this week because the Jets are no chance, but the Phoenix actually are, and they can take another big step towards a top four finish by winning this. Their 8-2 demolition of the Mariners was franked when they cruised past the Wanderers last time out and in New Zealand, I really do have a hard time imagining any result other than another W for the Cake Tin faithful. They’re over the odds at anything north of even money and I’m more than happy to get involved.

Betting suggests that this will be one of the tighter matches in Week 23 and City can get their finals campaign back on track (properly) by winning. They’ve probably been the toughest club to trust from a betting perspective this season – they’ll lose to plodders one week, then towel up a title threat the following. The Wanderers have recorded a similar season, but more loss-heavy than City and they’ll find their southern rivals pretty hard to contain for a full 90, should they meet a team that is in the mood to win.

The champions in waiting host one of their biggest threats in the nation’s west on Saturday night, but they can fire another warning shot by winning. It’s easily been the Glory’s best season on record in the A-League era and even if they’re stitched up in the decider again, they will be able to hold their heads high and know that a handful of championships are just around the corner. The Victory snapped a worrying winless run by beating the Roar two weeks ago, but it was anything but convincing and they’d need to improve tenfold to compete in this.

May I suggest watching either of the NRL games, or the Brisbane Lions’ bid to go 2-0 in place of watching this match on Sunday. The end of the season simply cannot come quickly enough for the Mariners and it is a shame how often that has been true since they took out the whole thing in 2013. They face an Adelaide side that has fallen out of form themselves, but who remain a class above the Mariners, are still in the finals picture and ultimately, who should be winning this. The Reds are too short for me in head-to-head betting, but I’m happy to pick the fat from other markets.