Melbourne City vs Central Coast Mariners Prediction: City Will Look Out to Keep their Place atop of the Table

On Tuesday, Melbourne City will host the Central Coast Mariners at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. The previous league game that the hosts were supposed to play against their local rivals, Melbourne Victory, had to be postponed after spectators ran onto the field and goalkeeper Tom Glover of City was struck in the head by a metal bucket. Despite this, they continue to hold the top spot in the standings. Below are expert preview and betting tips, coupled with odds.

Melbourne City (LWWDW)

A rivalry match between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory scheduled to take place at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium two weeks ago was abruptly called off due to an odd invasion of the playing field.

Previously on December 10, after returning from the World Cup break, Rado Vidosic's squad was handed their first loss of the season, a 2-1 setback against Sydney FC.

Melbourne City are presently on top of the A-League standings with 16 points after seven matches, one point ahead of second-placed Western Sydney Wanderers with one game in hand.

However, Melbourne City will be playing without the services of Florin Berenguer, who had a serious injury back in August and will not be able to participate in the match.

In terms of the over/under markets, 4 out of their most recent 5 matches have finished with at least three goals being scored. This suggests that the over/under will probably be hit at some point. BTTS results have been seen in 3 of their last fixtures.

Central Coast Mariners (WWLLW)

The Central Coast Mariners defeated the Newcastle Jets by a score of 3-0 at home the previous week, becoming the first team in this year's competition to win back-to-back games at their stadium.

At the Central Coast Stadium, they played as an outstanding unit. They defeated the Jets with goals from Marco Tulio, Jason Cummings, and Beni Nkololo.

On December 17, they beat Sydney FC 2-1 with two quick goals from Tulio and Daniel Hall that erased Paulo Retre's 11th-minute opener and broke a two-match losing streak.

The Central Coast Mariners now have 13 points after playing eight matches, with four wins, one draw, and three losses. This puts them in fourth place in the league standings, three points behind the team hosting Tuesday's encounter.

In terms of the over/under markets, all of their most recent 10 matches have resulted in at least three goals being scored. That sounds interesting. 8 of the fixtures resulted in the BTTS.

Expert Betting Tips

The two sides have faced one another 34 times across all competitions. The score currently stands with Melbourne in the lead, 15-12, with seven games ending in a draw.

The last four matches Melbourne has played against the Mariners have all ended in victories for the home team, including a 3-2 victory for Melbourne in the most recent matchup that took place in the A-League in February.

With 18 goals scored in eight matches, the Mariners hold the greatest offensive record in the Australian Football League (A-League). However, the fact that Melbourne have scored 15 goals in seven games places them in third place among the competition's top attacking records.