Another 10 matches await us in Round 15 of the A-League Men’s competition as most teams reach the midway point of their season after the January postponements resulted in several catch up fixtures.
Aside from the six weekend matches, we have four extras on Tuesday and Wednesday to help get us through the week.
There’s a lot to look forward to with Saturday headlined by the FFA Cup Final rematch between Melbourne Victory and the Central Coast Mariners.
Read on for our A-League Men’s tips & previews and see where the value lies in the markets this week.
So far this season Melbourne City has played five games against Adelaide United and Western United, drawing twice and losing three times in those fixtures.
Against the rest of the competition, they have won five and drawn twice in the league this season, including a 4-2 in Newcastle on February 8.
If there is one trend emerging across the league at the moment, it’s the lack of clean sheets and you can pair City to win and both teams to score in a SGM at a decent price.
This is a tough spot for Wellington to be in, playing their fourth match in 13 days and backing up from a midweek encounter with Brisbane.
With Sydney’s squad starting to settle on their preferred combinations and their big name strike duo getting back on the pitch, they are getting healthy at the right time.
It’s a bad spot for Wellington brought on by circumstances out of their control but it’s also the reason to back the nominal visitors to get home with all three points.
For the second time this month, the Victory will host the Mariners at AAMI Park, although this time a cup won’t go on the line.
Melbourne won that match 2-1 however Central Coast was without its import striker Jason Cummings, who will be taking his spot in the starting 11 this time.
With the occasion of a midseason match not quite being on the same plane as the Cup Final, both teams should open up their gameplan a little bit and go on the attack.
Backing over 2.5 goals is a decent price however with the Mariners conceding three goals in three of their last four league outings, I’ll push it up a bit more and take four or more goals in the match.
On form, there is no reason for Macarthur to be favoured over Adelaide.
Currently on a five match winless run that has seen them concede 14 goals, Macarthur just has not put it together consistently since their return from having all of January away from matches.
Adelaide is becoming the team that saves their best for last and as a result is never out of any match.
I’ll back the Reds at this price which seems too high for me.
With the border to WA still closed to the Glory and the rest of the A-League, Perth will host Brisbane in Tasmania instead of at HBF Park where the game was originally scheduled for.
When these sides played at Moreton Daily Stadium last month, it was the Glory’s first game in over a month and the rust was evident on the night, however they repelled several waves of Brisbane attacks and only went down 1-0.
Having played a few more matches since then I’m expecting a much more even contest and a point apiece seems to be the way to go.
The Rudan rebuild at Wanderland will continue this weekend and it makes the play for this match a fairly straightforward one.
Heading into this weekend Western United is on top of the ladder while Western Sydney is closer to Perth at the bottom of the table (with games in hand) than they are to a potential finals berth.
Take Western United to continue to roll and extend their unbeaten run to five games.
Winless in their last six in all competitions, Central Coast desperately needs a get right game, but it doesn’t seem like it will come against Melbourne City here.
The reigning champions returned to form with a comfortable 3-0 win over Newcastle on the weekend to keep the pressure on Western United at the top of the table.
When these teams last met it was City taking care of business with a 3-1 win and are well worth backing in for another three points.
It’s tough to split these sides as this top four battle kicks off a big Wednesday of action.
When they faced off less than a fortnight ago, honours were shared in the Harbour City with goals from Steven Lustica and Max Burgess.
Even though it’s still a bit early in the season to be projecting this sort of stuff, it would not be out of the question based on current form for these clubs to be facing off in a Semi Final if not the A-League Grand Final in a few months time.
Both are showing an impressive resiliency and after a slow start, Sydney looks like they are returning to the level we know they are capable of.
Perth’s stint in Tasmania began on a profitable note with a win over Brisbane and they are at an enticing price when they host Macarthur.
The Bulls ended their five match winless run with a 4-1 demolition of Adelaide as their attack sprung to life.
However its tough to back against the story of Perth with the Glory now on the verge of returning home and the spark that has provided them is unquantifiable.
At their current price I have to take the Glory as they looked good against Brisbane and could have easily won by more.
It was a bad night at the office for Newcastle when they lost to Melbourne City but I like their chances of recording a bounce back performance here.
These clubs played out a draw earlier this season but the Wanderers are just a bit too hit and miss at the moment.
With an exciting attack, I’ll back the Jets to score enough to get all three points.