Western United vs Sydney FC
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Today’s free tip is in the Australian A-League encounter between Western United and Sydney FC.
I fancy Sydney FC enough to back them here at the moment but I feel like I should issue some kind of warning because, although bottom, Western United are actually playing well. They’ve been playing well for weeks now. Indeed, before the season started, I had them pencilled in as potential title-winners. That’s still possible but it’s one hell of an uphill struggle from here. They’ve not given up though, and the board have stuck with Aloisi, which should tell you that things aren’t as bad as they seem.
Indeed, Western United welcome back some of their injured personnel here – Donachie in defence, Pasquali in midfield, and Rukavytsya up top. Quite whether any of them is in any condition to play or not remains to be seen; I certainly don’t see Rukavytsya being rushed back, given his injury record. I also don’t think there’s a great rush required for Donachie, who has been out for quite a long time. Pasquali may be rushed back though, given that Lustica is out and central midfield is something they’re struggling with at the moment.
Scoring goals continues to evade Western United though. Rukavytsya was brought in to do that job in tandem with wonderkid Botic. Instead, the former has predominantly been injured and the latter has mostly disappointed this season. It didn’t help when they lost one of their main creators Danzaki to injury either. There’s always been something going against them this season, simply put. I feel for them, in a way. At some point they’ll string some wins together; I just don’t think it’ll start here.
I believe the above because of the sterling work Talay has done since taking over at Sydney FC. He’s made them sweat blood and tears, something which Corica didn’t, hence their constantly underwhelming displays. Now they look a lot more impressive, and when good teams work hard – well, you know the rest. There are still areas for them to improve upon, of course – by no means are they suddenly back to their bewitching best. However, this is the best they’ve looked in years, for my money, and that’s enough for me to take a chance here.
Let’s take a look at their problems first, shall we? Centre-back is the big one. Rodwell is amazing when he’s not injured, but as you all know by now, he spends most of his time being injured. Young understudy Gurd is also injured, which basically means that their only option is to field midfielder Girdwood-Reich alongside Lacerda, which has been exploited on numerous occasions this season. I’m not bothered about Courtney-Perkins filling in for the injured King at left-back; he’s a good alternative. Aside from that, other than a bit of running in central midfield, they’re pretty solid.
There are plenty of positives to speak of though. Kucharski has been a revelation now that he’s playing for a manager that actually trusts him and puts him on the pitch, something Corica almost never did. With him linking up play, Mak back from injury, Burgess getting back to his best, and Lolley on fire, Sydney FC have lots of options in the final third, enough so to offset young battering ram Wood’s suspension. This team attacks as one now though, and I love to see it. They create so many chances; that’s how they score as many as they do. That’s why I’m prepared to risk backing them here; I feel like they’re going to score more than they’ll concede.
That’s about it, really. I don’t expect Sydney FC to ‘do a job’ on Western United; just to outscore them on the day.
Verdict: Sydney FC to win at 83/100.
Saturday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Western United vs Sydney FC
Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne Victory
Adelaide United vs Central Coast Mariners
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
RWDM vs Standard de Liege
Kortrijk vs Sporting Charleroi
Westerlo vs OH Leuven
Racing Genk vs Union Saint-Gilloise
Croatian Prva Liga:
Slaven Koprivnica vs Rudes Zagreb
NK Osijek vs Hajduk Split
English Premier League:
Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Crystal Palace
Burnley vs Fulham
Newcastle United vs Luton Town
Sheffield United vs Aston Villa
Finnish Liiga Cup:
FC Lahti vs Ekenas IF
Gnistan vs HJK
Inter Turku vs IFK Mariehamn
Ilves vs VPS
SJK vs AC Oulu
French Ligue 1:
Stade Rennais vs Montpellier HSC
FC Nantes Atlantique vs Racing Club Lens
German Bundesliga:
Bayern Munich vs Borussia Moenchengladbach
SC Freiburg vs VfB Stuttgart
Mainz 05 vs Werder Bremen
VfL Bochum vs Augsburg
Darmstadt 98 vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Koln vs Eintracht Frankfurt
German Bundesliga 2:
Schalke 04 vs Eintracht Braunschweig
St. Pauli vs Greuther Furth
Nurnberg vs VfL Osnabruck
Hertha Berlin vs Hamburger SV
Hungarian Liga 1:
Zalaegerszegi TE vs Fehervar
Varda SE vs Ferencvaros
Debreceni VSC vs Diosgyori VTK
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Netanya vs Maccabi Petah Tikva
Bnei Sakhnin vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva
Hapoel Petah Tikva vs Hapoel Haifa
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs MS Ashdod
Italian Serie A:
Empoli vs Genoa
Udinese vs Monza
Frosinone vs Milan
Bologna vs Sassuolo
Italian Serie B:
Cosenza vs Pisa
Parma vs Venezia
Reggiana vs FeralpiSalo
Spezia vs Catanzaro
Brescia vs Cittadella
Lecco vs Cremonese
Sampdoria vs Modena
Ternana vs Como
Dutch Eredivisie:
FC Twente Enschede vs RKC Waalwijk
Fortuna Sittard vs SC Heerenveen
AFC Ajax Amsterdam vs PSV Eindhoven
NEC vs Heracles Almelo
Portuguese Liga 1:
Portimonense vs Arouca
Famalicao vs Sporting Clube de Portugal
FC Porto vs Rio Ave
Spanish Primera Liga:
Valencia CF vs Almeria
Granada vs Las Palmas
Deportivo Alaves vs Barcelona
Girona vs Real Sociedad
Swiss Super League:
Grasshopper Zurich vs FC Winterthur
Lausanne-Sport vs Young Boys Bern
FC Basel vs Lugano
Turkish Super Lig:
Rizespor vs Konyaspor
Istanbul Basaksehir vs Istanbulspor
Gaziantep vs Kayserispor
Antalyaspor vs Fenerbahce
Enjoy your free betting tips!