The following are previews with betting tips for Round 25 of the 2018/19 A-League season.
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Friday, April 12
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Brisbane Roar v Wellington Phoenix7:50 PM AEST, Suncorp Stadium |
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Brisbane’s horror campaign went from bad to worse as they were absolutely pummeled 4-1 by Melbourne City. The opposition had four different names on the score-sheet. And to make matters worse, the only revival for the Roar was an OG in the 54th minute of the match. Safe to say the’ll be pretty keen for their season to end sooner rather then later. And the OG actually made it 1-all before City ran away with it. Brisbane shot themselves in the foot with only 44% possession and 1/6 shots on target. City meanwhile had 56% of the ball and saw 11/18 shots go on target. The Roar were vastly outplayed by their far superior opposition. And the last time the Roar faced the Phoenix, Wellington ran havoc in the 4-1 victory. That day all of Williams, Krishna and Singh all got on the score-board. That lethal front three could tear them to shreds again if they’re not careful enough.
Despite Adelaide seeing red early in the second-half, it wasn’t enough to propel the Phoenix to a win as they went down 3-1. They were down 1-0 inside the games opening 10 minutes and their only strike of the game came via Sheridan in the 73rd minute. It means Adelaide are now level with them on 37 points and City are only a point behind with 36. Wellington dominated possession as they held 63% of the ball and kept United to just 37% of it. But they couldn’t at all capitalize on it as they shot only 6/19 on target for a pretty shocking conversion rate. Meanwhile their opposition saw half their shots hit the target, 3/6. However, in their previous 4-1 dismantling of the Roar, they went 6/14 on target. If they can play true to that sort of form and not the previous rounds form, the QLD side are in a hell of a lot of trouble.
Betting tip: Pick Wellington to win at $1.87 (TopBetta)
Also pick both teams to score at $1.50 (Ladbrokes, Bet365)
Saturday, April 13
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Melbourne City v Adelaide United5:35 PM AEST, AAMI Park |
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Griffiths, Harrison, de Laet for his 7th of the season and McGree for his 4th of the season all featured in City’s 4-1 rout of Brisbane. They finally gave their home fans something to cheer about as they put on an absolute clinic against the hapless opposition. They completed 81% of their passes. Duels wise they also won 79 to their 56. And 27 aerial duels to their 10. They also conceded only one yellow as they shot 11 of their 18 attempted shots on target. And Melbourne will be more then happy to keep the home run going against Adelaide, a side whom they have not lost to in their past six matches against. Jamie Maclaren scored one of his many goals this season in their latest game against Adelaide. Before that it was a 2-0 win and just before that a 5-0 one. Vidosic scored a double that game. Melbourne love to play United and they have the potential to pile on the goals in this game, just as they did last round. Adelaide themselves are a pretty stoic team, but even they might find it hard in their match against City.
Despite a non-needed 47th minute red card to Stamatelopoulos, Adelaide still came through with the goods and convincingly at that in their strong 3-1 victory over Wellington. The man who saw red did bag a nice double before that as he scored in the 17th and 44th minutes of the game. Marrone also opened the scoring in just the 10th minute of the match. Adelaide had only three shots on target the entire game but made each and every one of them count. They also gave away only 11 fouls, while they held just 37% of the ball. This was quite an impressive win for United giving that they needed a win to put some breathing space between them and the Jets. Also considering they were a man down for basically the entire second-half and the small/limited amount of time that they actually had the ball at their feet. Adelaide might have a pretty shocking recent record against Melbourne. But if they can display the same sort of fighting spirit that they did against Wellington, then they’re fair-game for this match.
Betting tip: Pick City to win at $2.30 (Neds, PalmerBet, TopBetta)
Also pick them to score first at $1.86 (BetEasy)
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Western Sydney Wanderers v Sydney FC7:50 PM AEST, ANZ Stadium |
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A debut Wanderers goal to Mahazi and a long-range screamer to Baccus wasn’t quite enough as the Red & Black fell 3-2 to the Jets in Newcastle. They scored first in the 43rd minute, but in the 63rd minute the Jets made it 1-all. An un-fortunate Janjetovic OG made it 2-1 just seven minutes later. However, four minutes later things were even again. But, in the 82nd minute the opposition scored their late winner courtesy of Angus Thugate. The Wanderers shot the ball well as they went 6/15 on target. And they also held 52% of the ball. They completed 76% of their passes and conceded only one yellow card. This was a tough game for the Wanderers not to claim anything from. Their will be no finals for them this season at 8th place and on 23 points. However, before the defeat they were on a bit of a run and they’ll look to get it back in the Sydney Derby. Not to their advantage however is the Sky Blues having gone undefeated in 15 of their past 16 games against them. And the last one was a 3-1 loss, a game in which they opened the scoring but it all went down-hill after that. They’ll be desperately searching for the win once again.
Milos Ninkovic you devil you!!! Sydney’s marquee man stepped up when it mattered the most as he scored a 93rd minute goal in Sydney’s 2-1 Big Blue win over the Victory. He scored the clutch goal that gave them the three points and kept them in 2nd place. That was while O’Neil scored a very nice game-opening goal in the 6th minute of the match. Controversy did arise from this game however as former Sky Blue turned Victory man Terry Antonis injured himself on the SCG turf. Rival coach Kevin Muscat was furious about it and it prompted a strong response from the FFA. So much so that Sydney are now considering moving their top of the table clash with the Glory away from the venue. But given Sydney’s long standing dominance over the Wanderers, even if they were playing at a local park they’d still be fine with it. It’s up to the opposition to prove everyone wrong and show them what they’re made of.
Betting tip: Pick Sydney to continue their Derby dominance with a win at $1.75 (Neds, TopBetta)
Also pick Sydney to be leading after 60 minutes at $2.00 (Ladbrokes)
Sunday, April 14
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Melbourne Victory v Central Coast Mariners5:00 PM AEST, AAMI Park |
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Which is worse? One of your best players being injured because of a simply s**t ground or losing a Derby in the 93rd minute? Well unfortunately for the Victory both of those things occurred in their 2-1 Big Blue defeat to Sydney. Antonis re-injured himself on the turf, while Milos Ninkovic scored the late, late goal to haunt the Victory. In a positive for them though, Barbarouses scored his 14th goal of the season in the 16th minute of the game. But back to the Antonis injury, Kevin Muscat lashed out at the state of the ground after the game. And the FFA also had some choice words about it in a statement later released by them. But they should get back to winning ways pretty easily in this game as they have won 13 of their past 17 games against the Mariners, with the other four being draws. This is such a lop-sided fixture it’s not even funny! Barbarouses scored the 88th minute winner last game against the Central Coast and evened the scores against Sydney. You’d strongly expect one of the A-League’s leading scorers to again feature prominently in this game as well.
For the Mariners, they didn’t offer much of anything in their disappointing 3-0 loss to the Glory. They went just 1/9 on target as they also leaked 15 fouls. This was a pretty ugly beating for the few home-fans who turned up to watch it as the game was already over by the 30th minute. By that point the Glory already had two on the board. The Glory are exactly the side that the Mariners should aspire to be, but are not. And through 24 games played this season, they have just the 10 points. They are basically all but assured of the Wooden Spoon in what is yet another wasted season for them. The Victory will probably make light-work of them in what could prove to be a very, very, very ugly match! Why their fans put up with this constant BS, I’ll never quite know.
Betting tip: Pick the Victory to be victorious at $1.25 (PalmerBet, TopBetta, Neds, Bet365)
Also pick the total goals bracket to be 4+ at $1.77 (TopBetta)
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Perth Glory v Newcastle Jets7:00 PM AEST, HBF Park |
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So as we come near to the conclusion of the A-League regular season, the Glory all but have the Minor Premiership in the bag. They currently are two wins ahead of Sydney and also have a far better goal difference then their 2nd placed rivals as well. That was confirmed with their commanding 3-0 victory over the last-placed Central Coast Mariners. They made light work of the A-League’s worst side as they scored in the 12th minute through Chianese. Then in the 29th minute they had two via Djulbic. Then Kilkenny rounded out the scoring in the 57th minute. In the major telling point from the game. the Glory shot 7/11 on target. While they kept the shockingly bad opposition to only 1/9 on target. The Glory were firing money shots while the Mariners were firing air. The past three games played between these two sides have all been 2-0 wins to Perth, will Kilkenny scoring in the most previous two editions of these sides battles. Newcastle could cause an upset, but with guys like Kilkenny banging in goals and their top of the table status it’s highly un-likely. Perth will probably win here and that’s that.
3-2 Was the score as Angus Thugate got the late winner against the Wanderers in Newcastle. Roy O’Donovan also got on the score-sheet, while an OG and a blunder from the opposition also contributed to Newcastle’s strikes. The Jets had only three shots on target the entire game but made all of them count via their three goals. Very impressively also for the home-side was the fact that they gave away only six fouls and had no yellows or reds to their name. Finals is pretty hard for them at this point but they are looking pretty good heading into next season. This side is strong and can beat anyone on their day. Don’t count them out entirely against Perth. If O’Donovan can show out against the likes of Keogh and Castro then you never know what might happen.
Betting tip: Pick Perth to win at $1.48 (Neds)
Also pick them to win both halves at $3.60 (Neds)
Best Bet of the Round
My favourite/best bet of the round is for Victory to be victorious at $1.25 (PalmerBet, TopBetta, Neds, Bet365), they have a damming record against the Mariners and it’s as simple as that!