Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC Predictions

• Sydney have won on three of their last four visits to this ground.
• Sydney have won three of their last five away league games.
• Central Coast have lost three of their last four home matches.

Is there anything to split these teams?

After three matches these sides find themselves a point apart with Central Coast Mariners slightly ahead of their guests in 10th place while Sydney sit 11th. The visitors were pipped to a third straight A-League title last season by Melbourne City but haven’t enjoyed the best of starts this term and are still searching for their first win.

However, this has proved a happy hunting ground in recent years and I fancy them to get the ball rolling on Sunday. Central Coast Mariners finished in third last season but they too have endured a sluggish start. This is their first home game of the season however, after a win over Newcastle Jets on the opening weekend they suffered defeats at Wellington Phoenix and Macarthur but they have lost three of their last four games as hosts.

Last season only one side took more points on the road than Sydney who won six of their 13 matches and I’m predicting them to win 2-1 in the correct score market here.

An away win on the cards

So far Mariners have scored three goals and they came against the league’s two worst defences whereas they couldn’t penetrate the league’s best in Macarthur. Elsewhere, Sydney didn’t score until the third game of asking but they have only failed to score in one of their last 10 matches away from home. Last season they averaged close to two goals per game on the road in the league whilst conceding just over a goal a game so I’m predicting a 2-1 win for Sydney and for them to get off the mark here.