The following are previews with betting tips for Round 19 of the 2017/18 A-League season.
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Friday, February 2
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Sydney FC v Wellington Phoenix7:50 PM AEDT, Allianz Stadium |
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What’s Happened Most Recently: The Sky Blues continued their season-long dominance of the A-League with a commanding 3-1 victory in the Big Blue. Initially down 1-0 courtesy of a Berisha penalty. Sydney struck back and hard through a Jason Geria foul in the box resulting in a penalty of their own which Bobo calmly converted, before his 2nd and another David Carney strike against the Victory sealed the result for the visitors. Despite the early deficit it was a well-deserved result for Graham Arnold’s men which saw them have 53% possession, shoot 6 shots on target to their opponents 2 and they gave away only 11 fouls, while Melbourne conceded 23.
While for Wellington, they remain dead-last and 5 points out of a finals spot after a disappointing 1-0 loss to Adelaide. A George Blackwood goal proved to be the difference after some horrible decision making from the Phoenix was the primary reason the ball found the back of the net in the first place. Although Wellington tried as they did, injuries to Roy Krishna, Andrija Kaluderovic and being without the suspended Marco Rossi severely hurt them. Nathan Burns was very restricted up front without his two other major attacking counterparts.
What Should Happen: He’s scored 18 from 18 games this season, has more goals combined than McCormack and Taggart and the last time he played Wellington he scored a fine hat-trick. While he also scored countless more in this seasons rendition of the FFA Cup. It’s the flying Brazilian Bobo and don’t expect him to slow down in this game. Just like he did last round vs the Victory in bagging 2 and breaking Sydney’s goals for a season record, expect him to strongly add to it against a struggling Phoenix side.
Betting tip: Pick Sydney to win at $1.33 (William Hill, BlueBet)
Pick only one team to score at $1.95 (Bet365)
Saturday, February 3
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Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory5:35 PM AEDT, McDonald Jones Stadium |
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What’s Happened Most Recently: Newcastle remain in 2nd place after their scintillating 2-all draw with Melbourne City. They opened the scoring in the opening 3 minutes of play thanks to a Topor-Stanley strike, before things were back even again in the 43rd minute thanks to a Daniel Arzani spot-kick. Jason Hoffman then scored to take the Jets up 2-1, before a late Dario Vidosic goal sealed the end result for both sides. Newcastle playing away from home were dominated, they had only 43% of the ball, along with only 13 shots to City’s 25, while they completed only 75% of their passes (Melbourne 82%). Thus the end result was a pretty positive one for the Novocastrian’s as it still keeps them 4 points clear of 3rd place.
Mark Milligan is no longer a member of the Victory after agreeing to a move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Ahli. Melbourne are expected to receive around a one-million dollar transfer fee for selling their marquee man. This isn’t the first time this has happened with the Victory also selling Milligan in the past as well. Regardless of the funds Melbourne receive from this transfer, they have to do something with it to replace the 67x Socceroo. This especially being the case with their ACL season starting soon and the A-League season reaching its crunch-time.
What Should Happen: The Jets have been struggling a little bit recently compared to their hot start to the season. While not that long ago Melbourne beat them 2-1. Berisha scored in that game and he also did so against Sydney last round. Expect the Fiery Albanian to lead his side to a rebound victory, he’ll step up to the plate now more then ever with Milligan no longer in the side. He won’t disappoint.
Betting tip: Pick the Victory to get a rebound win at $2.75 (TopBetta, Bet365)
Also pick Melbourne to strike first with a goal at $2.04 (Bet365)
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Adelaide United v Perth Glory7:50 PM AEDT, Coopers Stadium |
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What’s Happened Most Recently: Adelaide on the back of their 5-0 defeat and Perth on the back of their endless run of defeats, both came back to be victorious last round and push their case for a finals berth. For Adelaide, it was George Blackwood’s 4th goal of the season that proved to be the winner. He was the only player to find the back of the net in United’s tight 1-0 win over Wellington in NZ. While for Perth, they commanded a stunning 3-1 upset of the Wanderers. A Baccus red-card in only the 6th minute of the match helped the Glory get started as Diego Castro converted the ensuring penalty. Oriol Riera struck one back for the visitors not long after. But unfortunately for the Wanderers that was where the fun ended, as ensuring goals from Castro (again) and captain Andy Keogh delivered Perth a much needed 3 points. Possession wise, both teams played it differently, Adelaide had only 51%, while the Glory hammered the WSW with 61%. Both teams also shot relatively freely during their games, especially so in the case of the Glory who had ample room to move and shoot in.
What Should Happen: Defence vs Goals. Over their past 4 games, excluding the one against City, Adelaide have conceded only 1 goal, while the Glory have scored 7 from their past 3 games. Expect Adelaide’s young but sturdy back-line to again give a glimpse into the future of the club. While for Perth, Castro should continue to flaunt his magnificent array of attacking skills, while Keogh should continue to find his old-self after a goal last week.
Betting tip: Pick the first goal to be scored in the 16th to the 30th minute of the match at $3.75 (William Hill)
Also pick the Glory to score first at $2.62 (CrownBet, Bet365)
Sunday, February 4
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Central Coast Mariners v Western Sydney Wanderers5:00 PM AEDT, Central Coast Stadium |
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What’s Happened Most Recently: Wout Brama is not a professional Football player, he is something more of a criminal. His absolutely disgusting attempt at a tackle was and still is the main talking point from the Mariners 2-1 loss against Brisbane last week. Late on in the game, getting nowhere near the ball, he absolutely hammered Corey Gameiro. So bad was the tackle that ex-Fulham player Gameiro was in tears. The same Gameiro who has an absolutely retched history with injuries. Brama was visibly frustrated at the way the game was playing out and how he had performed and wanted to hurt someone. He had no intention of making a tackle what so ever. Thankfully Corey wasn’t injured, although he thought that he had been. Now the process will begin to see how many matches he is rubbed out for. A minimum of 8-10 would seem fair at the very least.
The Red & Black saw Baccus get sent of in only the 6th minute of their all-important game against Perth and that was the start of the end for the Wanderers as Diego Castro converted the resulting spot-kick and Perth went on from their. Their was a brief revive with Riera scoring his 7th goal of the season. But another Castro goal and a seemingly rare Andy Keogh strike meant that the home side ended up with all 3 points. To make things worse, the Wanderers had only 39% of the ball and only 1 shot on target the entire game and now they are not even in a finals spot after being usurped by the Roar.
What Should Happen: A cracking game of Football. Huh??? Your probably saying, yes a quality game of Soccer. The Mariners are desperate, so are the Wanderers, put them both on the pitch together and they’ll play a way that represents both sides dire need for 3 points. Blokes like Riera, De Sliva, Buhagiar and Janjetovic are pretty decent as well and most of the time deliver.
Betting tip: Pick the Red & Black to win at $2.79 (SBOBET)
Pick the goals bracket to be between 4-6 at $3.20 (SBOBET)
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Brisbane Roar v Melbourne City7:00 PM AEDT, Suncorp Stadium |
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What’s Happened Most Recently: In an Instagram message to his followers, Gameiro wrote how both his parents and girlfriend were “distressed” after the tackle. John Aloisi also told reporters that he had to calm him down after the game, while he was in tears on the pitch after the tackle had occurred. Nothing, thankfully, happened to Corey. However on the other-hand, like many others are calling for a massive-match ban will and should be handed to Wout Brama for his role in the very bad incident. While a fine wouldn’t be out of order either.
Brisbane won the match 2-1 via goals from both Holman and McKay and they are inside the Top Six. They also won the game with only 43% possession and by having shot only 2 shots on target for the entire match.
While for Melbourne, they remain in 3rd spot and 4 points clear of the 4th placed Victory after their exciting 2-all draw against the Jets. Daniel Arzani scored his 1st A-League goal while Dario Vidosic was the other City goal-scorer, continuing his fine run of form since leaving the Phoenix. While if it weren’t for a last-ditch Newcastle clearance, Ross McCormack would’ve won them all 3 points.
While in some rare bad news for the club owned by Manchester City (The City Football Group), Ross McCormack’s future is still up in the air after his loan deal from Villa expired. City are said to be working hard on a deal to keep him in Melbourne until the end of the season, but time will tell whether City get to keep their best player or not. Hopefully for their sake, they do!!!
What Should Happen: A powerful performance from Gameiro. The tackle was atrocious but Gameiro is something of a super-human, whenever it comes down to an injury, he’s always fought his way back. As long as he’s named in the squad to face City, expect him to have a strong performance. He mostly used as an impact sub by Aloisi and expect him to be just that this game.
Betting tip: Pick both teams to score at $1.66 (Bet365)
Also pick City to be leading after 60 minutes at $2.65 (Ladbrokes)
Best Bet of the Round
Pick 4-6 goals to be scored in WELL vs SYD at $2.50 (SBOBET)
Pick 7 & over to be scored in BRI vs MEL at $15.00 (SBOBET)