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Melbourne City will host Central Coast Mariners at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Friday in another round of the 2024-25 Australian A-League campaign. The home side have found their feet in recent games and now sit third in the league standings, eight points behind league leaders Auckland.
They picked up a narrow 3-2 win away at Sydney in their last match, taking the lead twice in the first half and losing it on both occasions before 20-year-old Alessandro Lopane scored the game-winner on the hour mark to register his first strike since December 2023.
Central Coast Mariners, meanwhile, have failed to perform all season and now look set to miss out on the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 campaign. They returned to winning ways last time out, beating Perth Glory 3-1 via goals from three different players, including Alou Kuol, who snapped his seven-game goal drought in the league.
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The visitors sit 10th in the table with 25 points from 22 matches and will be looking to build on their latest results when they return to the road on Friday.
Melbourne City vs Central Coast Mariners Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- There have been 30 meetings between Melbourne and Central Coast. The hosts have won half of those fixtures, while the visitors have won just seven times.
- There have been eight draws between the two teams, including their most recent matchup, which ended 1-1.
- The Mariners are undefeated in their last six games in this fixture.
- The hosts are without a clean sheet in their last six games in this fixture.
- City have the joint-best defensive record in the Australian top-flight this season with a goal concession tally of 20.
Melbourne City vs Central Coast Mariners Prediction
The City Boys have won three of their last four games and have lost just one of their last seven. They have won all but one of their last six games on home ground and will head into the midweek clash as clear favorites.
Central Coast's latest result snapped a 10-game winless run and they will be looking to kick on from that come Friday. They are, however, without a win in their last six away outings and could lose this one.
Prediction: Melbourne City 2-1 Central Coast Mariners
Melbourne City vs Central Coast Mariners Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Melbourne City to win
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Over 2.5 goals (Four of the last five matches between the two teams have produced more than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: YES (Both sides have found the back of the net in each of their last six matchups)
