Newcastle Jets vs Central Coast Mariners Predictions

• Central Coast Mariners picked up twice as many points as Newcastle last season.
• Newcastle Jets are winless in each of their last nine home games.
• Central Coast Mariners are unbeaten in five of their last six away games.

How better to open the A-League season than with an F3 Derby win?

When it comes to big rivalries in Australia, they don’t come much bigger than this. Interestingly, the F3 Derby has been contested on 55 prior occasions since the inaugural edition in 2005. Indeed the visitors can level up the all-time H2H record with victory here as it currently stands at: W18, D18, L17 from Newcastle’s point of view. In fact, it is due to the highly-competitive nature of this game coupled with the fact that the form book often goes out of the window in derby games that I am covering myself with the ‘draw no bet’ selection on an away win.

Central Coast were impressive last season as they recorded a third-placed finish in the league before dropping out of the play-offs at the quarter final stage. However, they did manage to win here by a 1-0 score line during the regular season and low-scoring affairs were often the norm for the Mariners on their travels. Notably, six of the visitors’ last seven away matches produced under 2.5 total goals and it is for the combination of those reasons that I am predicting a repeat of last season’s edgy 1-0 victory for the ‘Yellow and Navy’.

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