A month into the new A-League Men’s season and the competition has produced plenty of surprises.
Macarthur, Melbourne Victory and Western United are the early pacesetters while Newcastle has won plenty of admirers for their expansive and fun style of play.
Round 5 is headlined by the traditional pre-Christmas Melbourne Derby which should be played in front of a raucous crowd at AAMI Park.
We have our tips and previews for all six fixtures below so read on to see who we like in Round 5 of the A-League Men.
Western United have found a winning formula since their opening round defeat at the hands of Melbourne Victory.
They have won their last three league matches and have kept a clean sheet in every fixture.
In fact, all four of their league fixtures to date have finished with a 1-0 scoreline including last week’s win over Brisbane.
Considering Adelaide’s struggles in front of goal this season, having scored four goals in four matches, the unders is getting priced at a premium.
With Western United having found their identity as a defensively solid team I am happy to combine the unders with a fourth consecutive win for John Aloisi’s side.
We will have a great chance to find out if the Mariners win over Sydney FC last week was an anomaly or a sign of things to come.
Western Sydney has enjoyed it’s last three trips to Gosford, having won twice and drawn the other time they have played the Mariners at this venue.
But when it comes to finding a play for this match, the Mariners look like perhaps the best value of the weekend as slight outsiders.
They have had a chance in every match and I’m choosing to believe they put it all together against Sydney last week.
It does not get better than a festive season Melbourne Derby and after a year away, our regular service resumes for this match.
City has the more talented squad as it stands and the Victory will be hurt by the absence of Jason Davidson after his red card in Adelaide last week.
However as is the case with any derby, talent can only take you so far and City’s execution through the opening four rounds has left plenty to be desired.
The Victory are coming off a massive away win in South Australia and all signs are pointing towards a Tony Popovic masterclass here.
What is a bit of a struggle is seeing why there is such disparity between the teams in the market, City should be favoured but not by that much.
I give the Victory enough of a chance to match them that I’ll take the double chance of the Victory getting at least a point.
MATCH POSTPONED
A proper early season blockbuster kicks off Sunday’s action and this is shaping up as a potentially memorable clash.
Few would have expected Macarthur to be leading the herd through the opening four weeks of the season but to their credit, they have been very impressive thus far.
The only team yet to taste defeat also has the best defensive record so far, conceding just once in Round 1 and holding their last three opponents scoreless.
It all looked like it clicked for Newcastle last week in their 4-0 demolition of Wellington and Athur Papas has his side playing exciting, expansive football.
While the reports of at two players in the squad testing positive for Covid (at the time of writing) is bound to disrupt their preparations for this fixture, it would be a mistake to write them off completely.
However it is enough to make me steer clear of the match result market, but there is value to be found elsewhere.
Papas will still encourage his side to go for it and Macarthur has plenty of firepower in its squad so we should see a high scoring affair unfold and that is the angle I will be backing.
How much longer do you want to give Sydney FC the benefit of the doubt?
Winless to date this season, they have had to settle for just two draws so far but this could be their get-right game.
Wellington has had to juggle FFA Cup commitments and looked good in a 4-1 win over Avondale during the week but losing 2-0 to Western Sydney and 4-0 to Newcastle in Rounds 3 and 4 respectively should not fill punters with confidence.
History is not on their side with their last win over the Sky Blues coming on December 8, 2018.
Since then Sydney has won six of the seven matches with the other one ending as a 2-2 draw.
The benefit of the doubt on Sydney is starting to waver but I’ll give them another shot here.