Sydney FC have the chance to move to second as they host Melbourne Victory in an A-League fixture at the Netstrata Jubilee Stadium. The defending champions will be confident of turning their recent string of draws into a win against the team battling near the bottom of the table.
Sydney were held to a 2-2 draw by Central Coast Mariners in their previous A-League fixture. They fought back from two goals down with Milos Ninkovic pulling one back on the stroke of halftime before Trent Buhagiar got the equaliser seven minutes from time.
Steve Corica's men are fourth on the table but have a chance to go second with a win on Tuesday. They head into the match unbeaten in their last five matches, although three of those fixtures have ended in draws.
Sydney FC have looked slightly shaky at the back lately and usually count on their attack to bail them out of trouble. Aside from the draw against Central Coast Mariners, a come from behind 2-1 victory against Newcastle Jets is also among their recent results.
Melbourne Victory head into Tuesday’s match off the back of a 5-4 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers in their previous A-League fixture. Ben Folami netted a brace while Storm Roux, Dylan Ryan and Jacob Butterfield were also on target.
It was the second win in three matches for Steve Kean’s men who have now climbed off the foot of the table. While the manager will be pleased with the win, there is likely to be concern over the fact that his team conceded four goals.
Another area of concern will be the team’s form on the road with just one win in their last nine away matches. They have suffered six defeats in that run and were beaten 7-0 by leaders Melbourne City in their previous away fixture.
How the bookies view it
Sydney FC are overwhelming favourites among the bookies and are priced at 7/20 by novibet to win. A victory for Melbourne Victory is valued at 9/1 by BetVictor while a draw is set at odds of 24/5 by SBK.
Given Melbourne Victory’s poor form on the road, I am backing Sydney FC to secure the win.
Head to head
Sydney FC have the edge in this fixture with 22 wins from 56 previous matches. Melbourne Victory have claimed 16 wins while there have been 18 draws between both teams.
Sydney have won the last three fixtures and triumphed 3-0 when both teams met earlier in April.
Players to watch
Strikers Bobo and Kosta Barbarouses will each be hoping to add to their tally of six goals this season. Bobo is priced at 17/20 to score anytime by betway while BoyleSport is offering evens for Barbarouses in the same market.
Ben Folami is worth keeping an eye on for Melbourne Victory following his brace last time out. Unibet has the striker at 18/5 in the anytime goalscorer market while the first goal is set at odds of 12/1 by the same firm.
Anything else catch the eye?
Both teams have seen some high scoring matches in recent weeks and Tuesday’s fixture is likely to follow a similar pattern. Over 4.5 goals is valued at 5/2 by Unibet, over 3.5 goals is priced at 11/10 by Red Zone while novibet is offering 11/25 for over 2.5 goals.
A win/goals combination could be worth a punt with betway offering 7/10 on a Sydney FC win and over 2.5 goals. With both teams often grabbing late goals, they could be backed to score in the second half at 2/1 with bet365 while the second half could also be picked as the highest scoring half at evens with Red Zone.
This A League match between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory will be played on Apr 27, 2021 and kick off at 10:35. Check below for our tipsters best Sydney FC vs Melbourne Victory prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
