Macarthur FC v Adelaide United – A-League Betting Preview and Prediction
Today’s free soccer betting preview focuses on a clash between Macarthur FC and Adelaide United, who will meet on Friday, February 12 at Campbelltown Stadium in Sydney. Here is our free betting preview and prediction for Friday’s A-League bout.
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Macarthur FC vs Adelaide United
When: Friday, February 12 – 19:05 AEDT
Where: Campbelltown Stadium
Weather: Cloudy, 25°C
Macarthur FC locked in their first win of the month on Tuesday, when they bested Brisbane Roar 2-0 at the Dolphin Stadium. That win has catapulted Macarthur to third place on the ladder with 11 points, however, they’re still one game ahead of the second-placed Brisbane with 12 and two ahead of Sydney FC with 10 points in fourth place.
The game was fairly slow in the first half and it was not until the 76th minute when the Bulls opened the scoring with a goal from Denis Genreau. Brisbane pushed back for the remaining 15 minutes of the game but were unable to capitalize on their chanced and instead conceded one more in 90th via Matt Derbyshire, who scored his second for the team only five minutes after he was subbed in.
Macarthur ended the game with 57% ball possession and shot the ball 6/8. They also completed 85% of their passes, gave up 15 fouls and received two yellows.
Adelaide United’s last match happened last Friday, when they went down to Perth Glory 1-2 in what was otherwise a very tightly contested match at Hindmarsh Stadium. Stefan Mauk opened the scoring for Adelaide in the 20th minute and the game pretty much went downhill for Adelaide from there, although they had some flashes of greatness in the second half.
Bruno Fornaroli equalized the score in the 73rd minute and Adelaide looked well on their way to steal the win. That is until the 83rd minute when George Timotheou scored an own-goal and more or less sealed the deal for his team.
The Reds ended the game with only 37% ball possession but still managed to shot with a respectable 6/12. They also completed 75% of their passes, gave up 15 fouls and received two yellows. Despite their loss, Adelaide are still in a very solid position to lock in a playoffs berth, as they are only one point behind WS Wanderers and Perth Glory who sit in sixth and fifth place respectively.
Since these two sides have yet to play against each other, it’s hard to say how they match up and that becomes even more difficult to say, when we consider the Bulls field a much older, more experienced team, whereas Adelaide features a much younger bunch of players. The experience will surely play a role, but much of the same holds true for Adelaide’s faster and more explosive youngsters.
Even though there are many questions about how this game will go, there is one player that will be the game-changer, and that is no other than Matt Derbyshire. The 34-year-old Englishman has not looked too good this season with only two goals to his name, so there is a sense of urgency for him to step up.
He has had many opportunities to score a few more goals this season, but this will likely be the best chance to do so. Adelaide has already conceded 10 goals in six games and five in their last two outings, which makes them a good target for Derbyshire to score once or twice to prove his worth.
Even if Derbyshire doesn’t step up, the Bulls have plenty of other players who are more than capable of threatening Adelaide’s goal and unless the Reds show some improvement from these last two outings, they will have a hard time walking away with anything.
Prediction: Macarthur FC to win
