Wellington Phoenix vs Central Coast Mariners Predictions

• Wellington Phoenix are on a great run of form, going unbeaten in their last seven and picking up 15 points in that time. They’ve also scored 12 goals in that time (1.71 per game on average, conceding 7 (1 per game on average).
• Central Coast Mariners have lost five of their last seven, winning two and picking up six points. They’ve averaged 0.71 goals per game (5 goals) and conceded 13 (1.85) in the same period.
• Wellington Phoenix lost their first two home games of the season but have picked up wins against Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar as well as an impressive point against Sydney FC since then.
• Central Coast Mariners haven’t enjoyed a lot of success on the road this season, winning just once in a 2-1 victory in Perth. They’ve lost their four other away games this season though, scoring just two goals on their travels.
• Both teams have scored in just 42% of fixtures between the two sides.

Can Wellington Phoenix continue their fine form?

Wellington Phoenix got off to an awful start to the season, losing their opening four games of the season but a 1-1 draw against Melbourne Victory proved to be the turning point for the side as they are now seven games unbeaten. Impressive wins against Adelaide United and Western United have been backed up by another point picked up against Victory and a 2-2 draw with champions elect, Sydney FC. Many had written off Wellington before the start of the season but they’ve proven their critics wrong as they look to qualify for the finals series once again.

Scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for the New Zealand side this season, averaging 1.45 goals per game but they’ve been conceding at almost the same rate over the season. With that being said, over their poor start to the season they were shipping 2 goals a game on average but since then they’ve reduced this just a goal a game. Continue on that rate and they could be challenging for the top six in a couple of months time and looking to push for the Premier Plate.

Is there any hope for Central Coast Mariners?

Central Coast haven’t been able to find any form this season picking up just three wins and one draw in 10 games. They’ve conceded two or more goals on five occasions so far and shipped 17 goals so far, an average of 1.7 per game. This has led to them only rising as high as 9th place, five points behind their opponents this weekend, and current occupiers of the important 6th place, Wellington Phoenix. A win here would narrow that gap considerably and give the side a platform to build on.

Central Coast Mariners have shown some signs of life in recent weeks, winning two of their last five and keeping themselves just above Newcastle Jets and Brisbane Roar at the foot of the table. They have only picked up points in consecutive games once this season and they need to improve that and add consistency to their game in order to progress.

Who gets the New Year off to the best of starts?

This game looks like it could be a fairly tight one with neither side possessing a huge amount of quality throughout the side and the struggles that Central Coast have had in front of goal so far this year could really be highlighted in this game. As a result, we’re predicting this will be a low scoring affair and both teams will fail to get on the scoresheet.

Central Coast are likely to set up in a defensive manner as they try and leave New Zealand with a positive result and this could lead to some frustration for Wellington Phoenix as they try and break the visitors down. They hosts should mange to leave with the win but it won’t be comfortable and a 1-0 win for Wellington looks like a good bet.