“All over the shop” would be an understatement of where things are at with the A-League mens in 2021-22, but as always -football finds a way.
With wild weather causing havoc up North, yet again the fixture has to be shaken up as Australian Football does what it can to keep the show running.
But never fear, a feast of football is here!
All going well, an exciting weekend of A-League is here highlighted by Saturday night’s Sydney Derby and Perth Glory’s homecoming against Adelaide United on Sunday.
There’s a midweek kick-off to start the round with City hosting Glory, so be sure to come back to this page as we search for value for the Punters.
Perth Glory’s never-ending road trip comes to an end with a trip to AAMI Park to take on the second-placed Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
With the head-to-head odds of $12.50, you’d have to be one of the more optimistic of Glory supporters to expect a serious upset here.
At the time of publishing, City opens at the price of $1.24 and should expect to be back on top of the A-League ladder by the final whistle come Wednesday night.
Melbourne City has won five out of their last six and simply just keeps on keeping on.
Perth has had a hard slog on the road for almost three months now and will be eager to get home on Sunday when they face Adelaide United, but I can’t see them giving any grief to Melbourne City on their AAMI park fortress.
The over 2.5 goals has hit in each of Melbourne City’s last six A-League games, but for a bit of value take one of our popular same game multis for Over 3.5 goals and Jamie MacLaren to score one against his old time at the $3 price on offer.
Melbourne Victory will be delighted to get back on the pitch after their game against Brisbane Roar was postponed-rescheduled and then canceled last week.
Friday nights clash against Macarthur is set to be a fascinating encounter, with Tony Popovic’s men clinging on to a top-six position, and playing the third-placed Bulls could be a sneak peek into what we might see come finals time.
Both sides have been a bit hit and miss recently, but you’d expect the Vuck to be up and about after their last-ditch 1-0 win over the Mariners in Round 15.
You would expect the Victory to get the job done at home in this one.
For a bit of a fun/novelty betting stat -The ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ market has hit in each of Melbourne Victory’s last seven A-League Week 17 matches.
Consider the Win/Over 2.5 goals double my bet for the match.
They may call a number of venues around Victoria their “home” ground, but Western United loves a “home” game.
In fact, John Alossi’s boys have won their six A-League “home” games from GMHBA Stadium, AAMI Park, and now look to continue that “home” ground advantage at Ballarat’s Mars Stadium.
They might not need their own stadium after all if this kind of streak continues.
Western United is in great form and has gone seven games without a loss winning their past three.
Their opponents, the Newcastle Jets have proven to be one of the more entertaining teams to watch this season, coming off a 2-2 draw against Macarthur last weekend, it just depends which one bothers to turn up.
Expect Western United to get the job done.
Along with Western United’s streak of “home” wins, the both teams to score market has failed to hit in their past six, stick with the streak and double it up in the Same Game Multi i’ve put together.
It’s the battle of the cellar-dwellers as 11th placed Central Coast plays host to 12th placed Brisbane Roar.
Hopefully one day, both these sides will be playing in a clash like this to avoid relegation – we can only dream.
It’s been a tough old week for Brisbane Roar, with the floods postponing, rescheduling, and then canceling their clash against Victory.
Here’s hoping that Gosford isn’t rained out on Saturday night so that both sides can take to the pitch.
Central Coast looks like a team that is very much on the improve but hasn’t won many games and Brisbane Roar has become a team that’s impossible to get a read of where they are at, despite what the League table suggests.
It’s a bloody hard game to tip this one.
When in doubt, back the draw.
All going well, CommBank Stadium is cherry ripe to host this Saturday nights Sydney Derby.
The Sydney Derby is always one of the great fixtures in Australian sport and looms as a must-win game for both sides – especially 6th placed Sydney FC.
Both sides have lost their past two games but it’s the Sky Blues who have tended to be better in front of goal which makes me lean more towards them.
Hopefully, we get one of the all-time classic Derby fixtures in the rain, which is always a beautiful sight.
However, with the two rivals having a similar run of form in recent weeks, it could be anyone’s game but I’m reluctant to take the Draw.
I have a feeling that Sydney FC has a big Derby win in them, so I’ll take them to win outright.
Melbourne City will have to back it up from their 2-2 draw against Perth Glory on Wednesday night as they head up the Leichardt Oval to take on the Phoenix.
Wednesday night’s draw allowed City to return to the top of the table, on percentage but having another shot in this Round should ensure that they can finish the weekend top of the league.
Wellington can be a bit hit and miss, but the Nix have gone in their past five matches without a loss.
Either way, you should expect Melbourne City to get the chocolates here and the Half Time/Full Time double market appears a good value bet.
The highly anticipated homecoming of Perth Glory after weeks on the road and they’ll take plenty of confidence after splitting the points with League leaders Melbourne City midweek.
Can Adelaide United spoil their homecoming?
The Reds sit 4th on the table and want to remain in the six, but have gone in their past eight games without a clean sheet, so expect to see plenty of scoring.
Stats aside, the half-full HBF Park will feel like a full house with the adoring Perth home crowd happy to see their boys home and the Glory players will thrive off it.
Back Perth Glory to win in what will be an emotional night of football out west.