Western Sydney Wanderers vs Melbourne City Predictions

Western Sydney Wanderers missed out on the Australia A-League playoffs last season, and with just five games remaining in the regular season it’s looking increasingly likely that they’ll fail again this year.

The Wanderers fell to a 3-1 defeat at the transformed Wellington Phoenix before the international break, bringing an end to their four match unbeaten streak and leaving them worryingly far from the all important top six. With just 15 points left to play for, the hosts find themselves 11 points adrift of the playoffs and in need of a miracle.

Prior to their defeat in Wellington, the hosts were looking like a new team. They had won three of their last four matches and started making headway on bridging the gap between themselves and the playoffs. With such a large deficit though, one bad result was always likely to bring their charge to a grinding halt.

Melbourne City, on the other hand, are just trying to consolidate their position inside the playoffs now. They have a seven point cushion before dropping out of the top six, and their main aim now will be to take 4th position from Wellington Phoenix.

A 4th place finish looked very likely just a few months ago, but their form hit a rocky patch back at the end of January. They embarked on a six match winless streak in the A-League, which was only ended just before the international break as they clinched an unlikely victory against title chasing Sydney FC.

The bookies are expecting a high scoring game on Saturday, but we have a different view of things. Western Sydney Wanderers have improved a lot at the back recently, especially at home. They have only conceded one goal in their last two home games, and only five of their last 10 home league games have seen three or more goals scored.

Melbourne City, meanwhile, have seen just two of their last 11 away games in the A-League end with more than two goals scored, so we think backing Under 2.5 Goals along with a 1-1 correct score prediction is the best option here.