A-League 2020/21 Round 3 Betting Previews and Predictions
Betting-Previews.com brings you more free soccer betting tips, focusing on three fixtures scheduled for the third round of 2020/21 A-League. If you’re looking to bet with our premium members, check our premium section, where we have posted two additional A-League tips.
Newcastle Jets v Western Sydney Wanderers
When: Friday, January 8 at 7:05 PM AEDT
Where: McDonald Jones Stadium
Weather: Cloudy, 21°C
Newcastle Jets and Western Sydney Wanderers will clash on Friday at the McDonald Jones Stadium, which will mark their first meeting since February when these sides parted ways with a 1-1 draw. The result was somewhat disappointing for the Jets, who historically dominate in these affairs.
Jets have won five out of the last seven clashes with Wanderers and four of the last five. In that stretch, Jets have scored 13 goals to Wanderers four, which only goes to show how one-sided these meetings usually are, although it’s worth noting their most recent contest in February was fairly tight.
Wanderers enter this match off a 0:1 loss against Macarthur FC, who we have tipped at +0.00 with our premium tips at 2.30. The match was somewhat close with Wanderers holding a 45% possession and shooting with 6/13, whereas Mcarthur managed 55% possession and shot with 6/20.
The sports bookmakers have priced Wanderers as the favorites for this bout, which we don’t have a problem with. They had a solid performance against Macarthur or have at least looked somewhat better than the Jets in their loss against the Mariners.
Having said that, we believe there is a serious opportunity for the Jets to cause an upset. Since neither team looked exceptionally good in their first match of the season, it will all come down to which side will step up on Friday and we are leaning more towards the Jets to do so.
Even though the booting of Jet’s owner does not spell out excitement, it has become fairly obvious the changes in the team have led a rise in support amongst their fans who have become far more vocal – perhaps more than ever before. This should spark an added motivation amongst the players, who will enter the pitch on Friday eager to produce something special and give back to their fans.
On top of all that, we can’t ignore the aforementioned history between these two sides. Wanderers have not beaten the Jets once since April 2017 and have managed only three stalemates in eight games since then.
Prediction: Newcastle Jets +0.25 AH, 2.33 at Pinnacle
Macarthur FC v Wellington Phoenix
When: Saturday, January 9 at 5:05 PM AEDT
Where: Campbelltown Stadium
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 21°C
These two teams have (obviously) never met before, but that does not take away from the fact that we are in for one exciting affair at the Campbelltown Stadium.
Macarthur launched their A-League debut with a 1-0 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers but failed to keep their fire going and lost their second fixture of the season against Central Coast Mariners with 0:2. Wellington Phoenix, meanwhile enter this match off a 1-2 loss against Sydney FC, so it’s fair to say both sides will be eager to get back to winning ways.
In their loss against Mariners, Macarthur held a 69% ball possession and shot the ball with 4/14, yet still found themselves on the receiving end by conceding in 35′ and 89′. Phoenix, meanwhile, had the ball at their feet for 52% of the match and shot the ball with 6/21.
Neither side impressed with their showings in the previous round, however, we still believe this one is Bulls’ to lose. They had an excellent performance against the Mariners and looked good in all aspects of the game besides their scoring.
This, however, brings us to another point, which is Macarthur’s and Phoenix’s struggles to convert their shots into a goal. Although Phoenix managed to score a goal against Sydney, their efforts in the attack were anything but convincing.
That is largely due to the subpar performances of David Ball and Jaushua Sotirio, whereas Ulises Dávila’s shots were all off the mark. Much of the same holds true for Loïc Puyo and Denis Genreau of Macarthur.
We are leaning more towards Bulls to win this one, however, we don’t expect a high-scoring affair, largely because we don’t see how the Phoenix can penetrate Macarthur’s defense the same way the Mariners did. Likewise, Macarthur strikers did not show enough in their previous bout for us to believe they can impress.
Prediction: Under 2.5 goals, 1.91 at Pinnacle
Brisbane Roar v Melbourne Victory
When: Sunday, January 10 at 6:05 PM AEDT
Where: Dolphin Stadium
Weather: Cloudy, 26°C
These two teams last met just three days ago, when Brisbane secured a commanding 3:1 victory to lock in their first three points of the 2020/21 A-League season. The Roar came away from AAMI Park with 42% ball possession, 14 goal attempts and four shots on goal, which was noticeably better than Victory’s 2/9 shooting.
Brisbane scored the first goal of the game in the 16th minute before conceding an equalizer in the 24th. The second half, however, was much more one-sided with Roar adding two more in 60′ and 79′ and Victory failing to respond as they did not manage a single shot on goal and had only one attempt.
Overall, Roar have managed only two head-to-head victories against Melbourne in their last six clashes, which might not look too good on paper, but it’s worth noting that they have won both of the last two with 2:1 and aforementioned 3:1. before that, it was Melbourne who won with 1:0, 2:1 and 5:0 in 2019.
Even though Victory might seem stronger on paper, it’s very difficult to side against Roar for this match, largely due to their commanding performance over the weekend. We must give Victory some praise for assembling what seems like a very competitive squad, but based on what they have shown so far, it’s fairly obvious they still have a lot of work left to do before they can reach their potential.
Sooner or later Victory will find their stride and start climbing the ladder, but we don’t believe they can fix all the mistakes in time for this bout. Roar outperformed Victory in all aspects of the game last time out and we don’t expect that to change here.
Prediction: Brisbane to win, 2.31 at Pinnacle
