The following are previews with betting tips for Round 8 of the 2017/18 A-League season.
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Thursday, November 23
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Newcastle Jets v Melbourne Victory7:50 PM AEDT, McDonald Jones Stadium |
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Last Time They Met: Melbourne have defeated Newcastle in 4 of their past 6 meetings against each other, with an aggregate score of 11-4. However in their last clash it was a relatively dour 0-0 draw. That day yellows were handed out to Baro (MV), Hoffman (NJ) and Kokko (NJ). Newcastle were very wasteful in front of goal producing 18 shots, but converting 0 of them, while the Victory had only 2 of their 9 shots be on target, although they did have a shot come of the woodwork. Will this encounter produce another boring draw or will one of these sides light up the match?
What Happened Last Round: Undefeated no more as the Jets suffered their first loss of the season to the Sky Blues at Allianz Stadium. The Novocastrian’s conceded within the first 5 minutes of the game to a Milos Ninkovic strike, while Bobo also got his 5th of the season in the 59th minute. However they did grab one back only a few minutes later from Dimmitri Petratos to make the final score 2-1. The focus will be on Jack Duncan against the Victory as while he made some strong saves, poor errors by him also led to both of Sydney’s goals. For the Victory, they finally won a game, their first win of the campaign. They defeated the struggling Glory 2-0 away from home. Between the 56th and 67th minutes of the game, both of Melbourne’s goals were scored. They came via Besart Berisha, a man who simply loves playing against Perth and Leroy George. Such was the strong defence of the Victory, they kept their opponents to 1 shot on target, while the score could have been even bigger had Melbourne’s shot not come of the woodwork.
What Should Happen: A well worth watching draw. For Newcastle, they will be looking to rebound strongly after their loss to Sydney. This while Jack Duncan won’t have fancied his performance against the Sky Blues and will be looking to play much better against Melbourne. For the Victory, they have now claimed 4 draws and a win from their past 5 matches and finally look like a decent side again. With these two sides pitted against each other you can’t separate them, thus resulting in the draw.
Betting tip: Pick the draw at $3.60 (UniBet, Bet365 and LadBrokes)
Also pick the total amount of goals in the match to be between 4-6 at $3.15 (MadBookie)
Friday, November 24
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Melbourne City v Perth Glory7:50 PM AEDT, AAMI Park |
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Last Time They Met: History shows us that whenever these two sides meet, goals will be aplenty. The last game between these two teams resulted in a 2-0 Glory victory with both Diego Castro and Joel Chianese getting on the score-sheet. While of the 14 shots taken in this match, more than half (8) of them were on target. While the game before that resulted in a 5-4 Perth win. This while there were 8 different goal scorers. For City, Tim Cahill bagged a brace, while Colazo and Fitzgerald also scored for Melbourne. For Perth, Castro, Keogh, Harold, Marinkovic and Taggart were the men on target. Between the 75th and 90th minutes of the game, 5 of the games total of 9 goals were scored and at one stage Melbourne pretty much scored right after Perth had struck such was the high-scoring ferocity of this match. Will this game produce another entertaining, high-scoring thriller or will a different approach be taken?
What Happened Last Round: For Melbourne their effort against cellar-dwellars Brisbane was nothing but embarrassing as they suffered only their second loss of the season in an un-favourable 3-1 score-line. The only strike for City came through Stefan Mauk a little while after the second half had started while for the Roar, two of their goals came through Avraam Papadopoulos, while Eric Bautheac also bagged his debut goal for the club. Melbourne have been nothing but down hill after winning their opening 4 games of the season, they now have 2 losses from their past 3 games. For the Glory their effort against the Victory was a bit better than that of their 5-2 dubbing at the hands of Wellington last round, but still not nearly of a good enough standard for the A-League as they went down 2-0. The goals for their opponents came through Besart Berisha and Leroy George, in what was only their second and first goals of the current season respectively. Perth’s shooting in this match was pretty dismal as they were held to only a single shot on target.
What Should Happen: Another high-scoring affair. History has shown its what these two sides do best when playing each other. While both sides also posses the individual talent to be able to score the goals. These include the likes of Tim Cahill (11 goals in 24 games for City) and Ross McCormack (equal third in the race for the A-Leagues Golden Boot). While Perth, provided they are fit for this match, have the much daunted attacking trio of Castro, Keogh and Tagart. If past matches repeat themselves in this one, then it should be a very fun encounter to watch.
Betting tip: Pick Melbourne to be leading after 60 minutes at $2.00 (LadBrokes)
Also pick the time of the first strike to be in the 15th minute or earlier at $2.75 (William Hill)
Saturday, November 25
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Wellington Phoenix v Central Coast Mariners5:35 PM AEDT, Westpac Stadium |
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Last Time They Met: A Michael McGlinchey goal in the 9th minute was all that separated these two teams the last time they met. And Wellington had to get the win the hard way having only 45% possession of the ball to go along with having a worse passing accuracy than the Mariners, winning less duels, having to do more physical work (make more tackles) and having 16 fouls called on them compared to the Central Coasts 12. Roy Krishna has scored 2 from his past 3 against the Mariners, will he bag another 1 or 2 on Saturday?
What Happened Last Round: Wellington had no game last round due to the surface at Spotless Stadium having work done on it, but the game before that was a huge win for the Phoenix as they beat Perth 5-2 in an absolute thrashing in Wellington. The men on target that day for the Phoenix were Vidosic (13th min), Paracki (34th min), Finkler (52nd min) and Kaluderovic twice (74th and 87th mins), in what were his 4th and 5th strikes of the season. However of some concern for the Phoenix will be that Xavi Torres opened the scoring for the opposition so early (9th minute) and that it was 2-all before Wellington really turned in on and scored 3 goals in succession. For the Central Coast their loss was disappointing as only a week early they had inflicted Sydney FC’s first loss in 9 months on them. However their was an element of bad luck to it as Ryan Kitto scored the winner in the 93rd minute for Adelaide, after they were down 1-0 initially to make the final score, 2-1. The Mariners only goal of the game came through a Wout Brama penalty. While the Central Coast also dominated possession having 58% of the ball compared to Adelaide’s 42%.
What Should Happen: Wellington letting their form ride on. A 5-2 win is a big score no matter what Football game it is, but it was especially huge considering it was their first win of the season. In only the second game of the season, they pushed the champions all the way, eventually losing 3-2 to Sydney, they were on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win against the Roar before it ended 3-all, their had been signs leading into the match that Wellington were going to hit their straps at some point during the season and it really showed against the Glory. That form should continue into this match against the Mariners, especially considering they’ve had the week of. This should all result in a big win for the boys in Yellow & Black.
Betting tip: Pick Wellington to strike first at $1.73 (LadBrokes)
Also pick the Phoenix to beat the CCM by 2 goals at $5.80 (CrownBet)
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Sydney FC v Brisbane Roar7:50 PM AEDT, Allianz Stadium |
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Last Time They Met: 2 of the past 6 games between Sydney and Brisbane have been 0-0 draws, such was the result of the last match these two teams played against each other. That day up at Suncorp Stadium both teams shot the ball freely, with each side having 8 shots on target, but neither could find the back of the net. This despite the likes of Tommy Oar and Thomas Broich having a combined 8 shots for the Roar and David Carney (12 shots on target last season along with 3 goals) having 3 shots. Brisbane had 15 fouls called on them while Sydney, 14, while the Roar completed 14 tackles to the Sky Blues 11. Will this match prove to be as defensively sound as last time or will more players be able to shoot properly and convert the chances given to them in this game?
What Happened Last Round: Melbourne City hadn’t lost a match before they faced the Sky Blues. Now they have 2 from their past 3 since facing Sydney. The Jets leading up to last round were one of the remaining two undefeated teams in the competition, that didn’t faze Sydney though as they inflicted Newcastle’s first loss of the season onto them with a 2-1 win. Milos Ninkovic opened the scoring in the opening 5 minutes for Sydney, while a second half strike from Bobo gave Sydney the win before a Dimitri Peratos strike a couple of minutes later made the score a bit more respectable. For Brisbane it was celebrations all round as they won their first game of the season in convincing style, disposing of Melbourne City, 3-1. Avraam Papadopoulos bagged a double while Eric Bautheac got his debut goal for Brisbane. City’s only goal-scorer was Stefan Mauk with a second-half strike. In another positive for Brisbane, they kept City to only 1 goal despite them having 6 shots on target in what was a strong defensive effort from the Roar.
What Should Happen: The champions keep on rolling along. It’s at ‘Fotress’ Allianz. Bobo is in form and Ninkovic is finally starting to find his feet. Talented youngster Charles Lokolingoy should again be coming of the bench. Their are literally hundreds of reasons why Sydney are the strong favourites to win this match. The only thing working against them is that this will be their 3rd game in 8 days, but that shouldn’t bother them to much, especially when they are one of, if not the fittest team in the A-League. Look to see Sydney get an easy win on Saturday evening.
Betting tip: Pick a Sky Blues win at $1.58 (SBOBet)
Pick at least one team not to score (in this case the Roar) at $2.25 (CrownBet)
Sunday, November 26
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Adelaide United v Western Sydney Wanderers7:00 PM AEDT, Coopers Stadium |
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Last Time They Met: The winner would go through to the FFA Cup, while the loser sent home wondering what could have been, It couldn’t have started of any better for Adelaide as they dominated the opening proceedings and had a goal in the 13th minute through Absalonsen. It got even better for them in the 58th minute after an Adlung strike. In the 70th minute Santalab bought one back but it wasn’t enough. They were knocked out of the cup, 2-1. Amazingly Adelaide won the match with only 34% possession. While they also had 5 less shots than their opponents. The Wanderers also completed 86% of their passes while Adelaide completed only 74%. It was an awesome win for Adelaide given Western Sydney’s utter dominance of the match. Will Western Sydney get their revenge or will Adelaide stay strong?
What Happened Last Round: Cometh the man, cometh the hour, cometh the legend, that man is Ryan Kitto. He bagged the match winning strike in one of the final plays of the game (93rd minute) to give his side the come from behind 2-1 victory against the Central Coast. And boy was it a much needed win for Adelaide as it represented their 1st in 5 games. The win leaves them currently in equal 4th position on the competition ladder with their opponents for this round, the Wanderers. While for Western Sydney they were unable to play last round against Wellington due to the surface work being done at Spotless Stadium, so they’ve had a nice week of to prepare for Adelaide, who will be playing their 3rd game in 10 days. However in the round before that, they drew 1-all with City. They opened the scoring through Sotirio in the 19th minute but a 55th minute McCormack strike meant that both teams shared the spoils on that occasion. Combined both sides had 14-27 shots on target, while Western Sydney had a goal gone begging as one of their shots hit the woodwork.
What Should Happen: Defence. In 4 of their 7 games this season, Adelaide have kept their opponents to only a single goal for the duration of the match. This while their opponents have also done it 4 times this campaign from 6 games. Both Paul Izzo and Vedran Janjetovic can really turn it on when need be and in such a crucial game, both teams will be immensely hoping that they do so. How these two men perform will dictate to a large extent, how the match plays out.
Betting tip: Pick the draw at $3.52 (BetFair)
Also pick the Wanderers to strike first at $2.04 (Bet365)
Best Bet of the Round
Pick Perth to upset Melbourne and win at $2.63 (LadBrokes)
                   Pick SYD vs BRI to have equal scoring halves at $3.75 (William Hill)