Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory
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I’m trialling this game being listed as a Saturday game, guys and girls, because it kicks off too early on Sunday for me to post it in Sunday’s tips. You’d only have a couple of hours to bet on it so let’s see if this way helps you out more.
I’m expecting goals in this encounter, and plenty of them. Wellington Phoenix make a lot of mistakes at the back and Melbourne Victory cannot afford to risk being cautious here because they need to win. This should be played at a fast pace – which is the only way that The Yellow Fever know how to play – and their opponents will find it difficult to contain them without the suspended Milligan.
I find it hard to pick a winner here though. I think that Melbourne Victory’s balance in their squad should really steer them to victory, if you’ll pardon the terminology. However, it’s not served them too well so far this season as they either attack too much or defend too much; there’s no equilibrium basically. Wellington Phoenix are nowhere near as balanced but they do have one hell of a strong attack and they’ll punish most teams, one way or another. That’s why the 1×2 market is a “no go” zone for me.
Interestingly, Wellington Phoenix have a goalkeeping situation developing. At long last, young goalkeeper Smith has been dropped because he’s made too many mistakes and he needs time out of the spotlight. I think that was long overdue, to be honest. However, his replacement, Italiano, made mistakes against Central Coast Mariners last weekend which heavily contributed to the one-sided scoreline. Is it any wonder though? If I were Italiano, I would feel somewhat shunned by the new manager if he picked a schoolkid ahead of me when I had proven myself in the A-League before now. Perhaps Italiano is not too focused at the moment. Whatever the situation is, though, the fact remains that Wellington Phoenix have nobody between the sticks that they can rely upon and that’s causing a huge issue because they cannot defend very well to begin with, let alone when they know there’s somebody in net that will make mistakes.
Again, Wellington Phoenix’s midfield and attack are excellent. Finkler has taken a lot of heat lately but if he’s going to show up in any game this season then it’ll be against his former club Melbourne Victory. Besides, I’m more than happy to trust McGlinchey, Vidosic, Krishna, and Paracki to support Kaluderovic here and that should have some success against Melbourne Victory’s defence.
I expect Barbarouses to try show up against Wellington Phoenix today too. He had a spell here last year which didn’t go so well and he was one of the players that the fans had started to turn upon for below-par displays. Barbarouses always works that bit harder when he’s got a point to prove so I would not be surprised if he scored here. With George, Berisha, and Troisi in the squad, it’s safe to say that Melbourne Victory’s attack is good enough to score goals here. Is their defence good enough to keep their hosts out? On paper, yes. Based on their displays this season, no. Something is not clicking in Muscat’s squad at the moment, which is why I don’t trust them to win games for the majority of the time, and this game is no exception.
In my view, Wellington Phoenix are mentally stronger than Melbourne Victory and that may lead to a surprising outcome here. Whichever way it goes though, I’m happy to trust in there being goals, particularly given how many mistakes both teams are making at the back.
Verdict: Over 3 goals at 11/10.
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 to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Argentinian Superliga:
Club Olimpo vs Chacarita Juniors
Argentinos Juniors vs Temperley
Independiente vs Rosario Central
Newell’s Old Boys vs Racing Club Avellaneda
Australian A-League:
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Brisbane Roar
Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne City
Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory
Austrian Bundesliga:
Wolfsberger AC vs Rapid Vienna
SCR Altach vs Sturm Graz
Admira Wacker vs St.Polten
SV Mattersburg vs LASK Linz
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Lokeren vs RSC Anderlecht
Kortrijk vs Waasland-Beveren
Royal Excel Mouscron vs Sint-Truiden
KV Mechelen vs Racing Genk
Bulgarian A PFG:
Cherno More Varna vs Botev Plovdiv
Levski Sofia vs Pirin Blagoevgrad
Croatian Prva Liga:
NK Osijek vs Slaven Koprivnica
Rijeka vs Hajduk Split
Czech Republic HET Liga:
Dukla Prague vs Teplice
Slovacko vs Vysocina Jihlava
Zbrojovka Brno vs Zlin
Karvina vs Bohemians 1905
Slovan Liberec vs Sigma Olomouc
Viktoria Plzen vs Baumit Jablonec
Danish Superligaen:
Lyngby vs Aalborg BK
English Premier League:
Chelsea vs Newcastle United
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Liverpool
Everton vs Huddersfield Town
Leicester City vs Burnley
Stoke City vs Swansea City
Watford vs Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromwich Albion vs Crystal Palace
Arsenal vs Manchester United
French Ligue 1:
Racing Club Strasbourg vs Paris Saint-Germain
Lille OSC vs Toulouse
AS Monaco vs Angers SCO
OGC Nice vs Metz
Stade Rennais vs Amiens SC
Troyes vs En Avant Guingamp
German Bundesliga:
Bayern Munich vs Hannover 96
Hoffenheim vs RB Leipzig
Werder Bremen vs VfB Stuttgart
Bayer 04 Leverkusen vs Bv09 Borussia Dortmund
Mainz 05 vs Augsburg
Schalke 04 vs Koln
Hungarian Liga:
Debreceni VSC vs Budapest Honved
Paksi SE vs Vasas Budapest
Ujpest vs Balmazujvaros-Sport
Mezokovesd-Zsory vs Diosgyori VTK
Puskas FC vs Szombathelyi Haladas
Ferencvaros vs Fehervar
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs MS Ashdod
Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv vs Bnei Sakhnin
Hapoel Ashkelon vs Maccabi Netanya
Hapoel Acre vs Beitar Jerusalem
Italian Serie A:
Torino vs Atalanta Bergamo
Dutch Eredivisie:
ADO Den Haag vs Groningen
Twente Enschede vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Vitesse Arnhem
Willem II vs Heracles Almelo
Portuguese Liga 1:
Moreirense vs Maritimo Funchal
Tondela vs Rio Ave
Chaves vs Boavista
Portuguese Liga 2:
Gil Vicente vs UD Oliveirense
Vitoria Guimaraes II vs Sporting Braga II
Sporting Clube de Portugal II vs FC Porto II
Romanian Liga:
Concordia Chiajna vs Botosani
CS U Craiova vs Viitorul Constanta
Russian Premier League:
Zenit St.Petersburg vs Ural Sverdlovskaya Oblast
Dinamo Moscow vs FK Rostov
Lokomotiv Moscow vs Rubin Kazan’
Spanish Primera Liga:
Barcelona CF vs Celta de Vigo
Atletico Madrid vs Real Sociedad
Sevilla CF vs Deportivo La Coruna
Athletic Club de Bilbao vs Real Madrid
Swiss Super League:
Lausanne Sport vs FC Basel
Luzern vs Sion
Swiss Challenge League:
Aarau vs Chiasso
Wil vs Rapperswil-Jona
Turkish Super Lig:
Akhisar Belediye vs Yeni Malatyaspor
Karabukspor vs Goztepe
Besiktas JK vs Galatasaray
Enjoy your free betting tips!