There are five A-League matches slated for the weekend but not all of them are part of the Round 21 program.
Week 18 finally concludes in Sydney on Friday night, before the new week gets underway on Saturday. As confusing as this is, we’ve done all the heavy lifting for you, and you can find all our A-League tips below.
This is actually a Week 18 match that was postponed and rescheduled in place of Sydney FC vs Wellington Phoenix, which will now be played on a Wednesday night sometime in March.
Bizarre, but a Sydney Derby nevertheless and that generally always means a good contest.
… probably not this time though, because the Sky Blues are head and shoulders above every other club and for the most part, the Wanderers have been just awful. Granted, the Wanderers did record a lovely win last week, probably their best of the season, but there is little hope for them making this leap up in class.
With that out of the way, Week 21 of the A-League is underway in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon and the Jets will need to be at their best to contain the Perth Glory.
I point it out virtually every week, but the Jets haven’t been any good again this season and remain second-last in overall standings leading into Week 21. To their credit, they’re undefeated in four weeks, but face a reasonable step up in class from last week’s 1-1 draw with the Victory.
The Glory have also drawn three of their last four matches, but they have generally faced tougher opposition than the Jets and are one of the few threats to Sydney in the race in this season’s championship. They are over the odds at $2.40 and won’t be offered a better opportunity to win.
The most competitive match of the round looks like playing out between old foes the Victory and Adelaide United in Melbourne on Saturday night.
As one of the league’s most successful clubs, this has certainly been a campaign to forget for the Victory, who are perched only four points above the last-placed Mariners. They salvaged a draw with the Jets in Newcastle last week but are yet another club that faces a tougher task this time around.
Adelaide has been pretty difficult to trust from a betting perspective. They beat top-four side Melbourne City only a few weeks ago but were comfortably done by the lowly Wanderers at their last appearance.
I’m not particularly keen on either club’s chances in this, so I’ll be sitting on the fence.
Probably the league’s two most formless sides will clash in Geelong on Sunday afternoon and a rare win is on the cards for both Western United and the Central Coast Mariners. The end of the season can’t arrive quickly enough for both, but some pride can be salvaged in this.
Western United’s competitive start to their existence is a distant memory. They have lost three of their last four and haven’t found the back of the net at any of their last three matches.
It is almost impossible to tip the Mariners. They have lost thirteen this season and are anchored to the bottom of the table. They were comfortably done by Sydney FC last week, but virtually everyone has been, and I actually think this represents their best chance of winning in some time. I’m going to have a gamble at the price.
This is probably the biggest match with the largest implications on the make-up of the top six in Week 21, and we have to wait until Sunday to see the third-placed Melbourne City take on the competitive Brisbane Roar.
City have actually lost two of their last three matches but enter this refreshed following a bye. They will make the finals, but still seem to lack the killer blow necessary of a Championship-winning side.
Losing has seemingly become a memory for Robbie Fowler’s men, whose only defeat in 2020 came at the hands of Sydney FC and even then, it was a close 1-0 encounter in which they also went down to ten men.
I think that the Roar are enormous overs in this and I’m happy to be with them.