The following are previews with betting tips for selected fixtures in Round 6 of the 2024/25 A-Leagues Mens season.
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Melbourne City vs Western Sydney WanderersSaturday November 30, 5:00pm |
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Who could possibly forget the last time Melbourne City and the Western Sydney Wanderers went head-to-head at AAMI Park! In what was one of the competitions best ever performances by the hosts they inflicted a record 7-0 scoreline on a then Mark Rudan-led side. A five-star rout that was highlighted by an absolute rocket via Terry Antonis from around the halfway line eight-minutes from full-time. This a thrashing where City also very impressively shot 12/21 on target and garnered 64% possession of the ball. With the Wanderers themselves having conceded four goals in two of their last three games and City having just thrashed the Glory 5-0 in Perth, is there the potential for another stunning Melbourne performance right here or can Western Sydney amend the wrongs of the past?
Melbourne 10/11/24 @HBF Park, Perth – City 5 vs Glory 0, Steven Ugarkovic 39’ & 44’, Andreas Kuen 46’, Yonatan Cohen 83’ and Medin Memeti 88’.
Western Sydney 23/11/24 @Allianz Stadium, Sydney – Wanderers 2 vs Sydney FC 4, Zac Sapsford 45+4 and Marcus Antonsson 78’.
Against Sydney FC last round Juan Mata was subbed on in the 58thminute. Prior to that against the Jets at home he came on with just six-minutes to spare. There are some internal rumblings from within the Wanderers camp that Mata is not a happy chappy, speculation that’s only been fuelled further by his recent acquisition of a stake in a club outside of Australia. For a Midfielder who once scored 52 combined Premier League goals for the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea it would be totally understandable from his end. Whatever Alen Stajcic is doing ain’t working at all and needs to change ASAP. Many Western Sydney fans believe the club looks a lot better and a lot more composed when he’s out on the pitch. Increased playing time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup winner would undoubtedly correlate with better results for the ‘Red & Black’. And coming up against a City team that has only leaked three goals through four games played so far this season. He could very well be the player that gets under their skin, just like he did with opposition Goalkeeper and former Wanderer Andrew Redmayne in the Derby last weekend.
It’s hard to envision anything other than a comfortable City victory at home. Against Sydney FC the Wanderers largely looked pretty lethargic against their biggest rivals and against a team with a similar attacking impetus it’s difficult to see how they’ll be able to shake things up. Western Sydney won’t be disgraced but it’ll be far from a pretty game for the visitors.
Betting tips: Back a City victory at $1.84 (BetFair)
Also back them to open the scoring at $1.50 (Bet365)
And you can also pick both teams to score at $1.57 and for one of those goal scorers to be Marco Tilio at $3.10 (Bet365)
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Western United vs Melbourne VictorySunday December 01, 4:00pm |
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The ’Green & Black’ head into their Derby against the Victory having been triumphant in four of their last six encounters against them + one draw to boot! A quite damming statistic which John Aloisi’s troops will no doubt draw heavily upon given how good Melbourne are and have been so far this campaign. New manager Patrick Kisnorbo has guided the Victory to 3rd place on the ladder and having conceded an equal league second best three goals throughout their opening five games of the season. Whilst Western United themselves just battered the Perth Glory 3-1 at Allianz Stadium thanks to a superb double from Japanese Striker Hiroshi Ibusuki as he eclipsed 30+ goals in the A-League. Will it be Ibusuki who helps his side continue on with their newly found resurgence or do Melbourne have other things planned?
Western United 22/11/24 @Allianz Stadium, Sydney – United 3 vs Glory 1, Dylan Leonard 60’ and Hiroshi Ibusuki 65’ & 76’.
Melbourne Victory 24/11/24 @Allianz Stadium, Sydney – Phoenix 1 vs Victory 0.
Melbourne under Patrick Kisnorbo this season have been brilliantly defensively as already mentioned, however somewhat surprisingly the ‘Green & Black’ have been pretty decent in that department too. Outside of unluckily conceding two goals to Adelaide in Adelaide just over two weeks ago, in each of Western United’s other four appearances this campaign they’ve conceded just the one strike a piece. And that’s largely down to the fact that John Aloisi has his men sitting back soaking up the pressure, then ready to pounce down at the other end where necessary. Against the Glory most recently they went only 3/15 on target and a couple of matches before that the Wanderers shot 3/16 on target against their resilient opposition. And then in the opening round of the season the Phoenix found the going tough, ending up with just 2/12 versus them. This is a solid gameplan that worked dividends for Wellington against Melbourne last round, as the Victory lost by one goal, as they shot 3/18 on target throughout the duration of their heated encounter. This is how Western United can best topple the Victory in what should be an incredibly entertaining, yet also extremely stand-offish Derby.
Western United have the very real potential to cause a massive upset here. However, I’d pick the Victory to be just a class above if you are going to back a winner. And if recent history is anything to go off then Melbourne will 100% have their work cut out for them.
Betting tips: Look for there to be 1+ strikes in H1 and H2 at $1.57 (Bet365)
Whilst you can also look to the Victory to open the scoring at $1.50 (Bet365)
And pick there to be 9+ corners at $1.25 (Bet365)