Week 17 of the A-League features five fixtures, spanning Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
Sydney FC’s glittering campaign continues at home against the Brisbane Roar on Friday and perhaps unsurprisingly, they are the firmest favourites of the week.
An intriguing match will see the league-leading Sydney FC host an in-form Brisbane Roar side in Week 17’s opening fixture on Friday night.
The Sky Blues have been nothing short of outstanding this season. I say it week in, week out, but there is absolutely no denying it. They have won four in a row leading into this, including an absolute demolition of the Victory in last weekend’s Big Blue. They deserve their clear favouritism in betting again and will take a power of beating.
The Roar are undefeated in their last five league matches and are seeking a hat-trick of wins, following good results over Wellington and the Mariners, respectively. This is another huge raise in class, however, and I feel like they might be found out.
There is little in this tie between the Newcastle Jets and Western United for the neutral fan, but the lack of recent form shown by either will probably result in a decent contest.
There is absolutely no defending how poor the Jets have been this season. They’ve looked terrible for the entire campaign, having lost their manager because of it and haven’t even drawn a match in 2020. They scored against the Phoenix in Wellington last week, but never looked like winning.
Western United have also been quiet since the turn of the year, losing three of their last four. They went down in a seven-goal thriller to Adelaide United last week, but it’s fair to say they are offered a better opportunity here, even on the road.
I’m happy to sit on the fence.
Another decent contest looks like materialising in Melbourne on Saturday when the second-placed City host a resurgent Adelaide United.
A drop in form before Christmas appears to be well and truly behind City, who are now undefeated through their last four matches and who enter this one off the back of a gritty draw with one of the league’s formed sides, the Perth Glory. A repeat of that effort would go a long way towards beating Adelaide on the road, but nothing short of that would suffice.
Adelaide’s bad run of form has also been cleared as they have taken all the points at their last two. Last week’s win over Western United saw them leapfrog that side back into fifth spot, and with scope to continue their rise.
This looks to be another match with draw written all over it.
The action takes us back to the nation’s west on Saturday night and another terrific opportunity looms for the in-form Perth Glory.
They were probably due a loss, but still managed a goalless draw with Melbourne City in Week 16, and there is no denying that Perth will be far better at home, and against a weaker opponent.
The Victory were simply outclassed by the league’s benchmark last week but will be particularly disappointed with the result given it came at the hands of probably their oldest enemy. They face a similarly daunting task this week and it’s tough imagining them turning it around enough to overcome the Glory.
Round 17 concludes in Gosford on Sunday afternoon with what will probably be a forgettable fixture between the Mariners and Western Sydney Wanderers.
The Mariners are another club who has failed to make anything of an impression on the league this season and the end of the campaign simply cannot arrive quickly enough. They have lost each of their last two matches, including one at home to the Roar last week.
The Wanderers certainly haven’t been great, but they have been slightly better than the Mariners and probably deserve their favouritism ahead of this match.
I don’t like either side’s chances of winning, so I’ll be staying away from win-draw-win betting.