Central Coast Mariners entertain Melbourne City in the Australian A-League on Wednesday morning as both teams look to bounce back from disappointing defeats last time out.
The hosts fell to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Wellington Phoenix, while Patrick Kisnorbo's men lost 3-1 to Perth Glory on home soil.
Match preview
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The Mariners made a strong start to the new campaign, winning three of their four opening encounters before Sunday's surprise result.
They had only conceded one goal throughout 2020-21 up until the Phoenix defeat, and Alen Stajcic will be hoping his side do not fall back into the bad habits that saw them leak 55 goals last term, the highest amount in the top flight.
Despite their poor display over the weekend, the Central Coast Stadium outfit are currently sitting in second place in the A-League standings.
After finishing at the foot of the table in 2019-20, Stajcic completed extensive surgery on his first-team squad over the summer, and it appears to have had the desired effect.
If the Central Coast Mariners want to claim only their second-ever A-League crown, then they will have to return to form quickly. A win over last season's defeated finalists would be a good place to start.
The visitors have struggled for consistency in the current campaign, failing to follow up either of their two wins with a positive performance.
A 3-1 loss to Perth Glory last time out has left Kisnorbo's side in eighth position after picking up six points from their opening four outings.
In their four league games to date, City have failed to score more than one goal on three occasions, making their chances of taking home the three points pretty slim.
Finding the back of the net on a more consistent basis will be key to their chances of reaching the showpiece event for the second consecutive season, but it remains unclear who is capable of stepping up and helping Jamie Maclaren share the goalscoring burden.
Central Coast Mariners Australian A-League form: WWLWL
Melbourne City Australian A-League form: WLWL
Team News
Stajcic has a fully-fit squad to choose from for this midweek outing and will select his best XI after the poor display at the weekend.
That means teenage striker Alou Kuol is set to lead the line again after bagging three goals already this season.
Winger Andrew Nabbout is Melbourne City's only absentee as the 28-year-old continues to suffer from a hamstring injury.
Maclaren is City's main attacking threat, having scored half of their goals to date, so Kisnorbo will be hoping his main man is on top form on Wednesday.
Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:
Birighitti; Clisby, Rowles, Tongyik, Nigro; Bouman, Stensness, Bozanic, De Silva; Kuol, Urena
Melbourne City possible starting lineup:
Glover; Jamieson, Good, Griffiths, Garuccio; Tilio, Gomulka, Berenguer; Noone, Maclaren, Metcalfe
We say: Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Melbourne City
Melbourne City have high aspirations for the remainder of the campaign and have a very strong squad on paper. However, they are yet to hit their best form and are coming up against a Central Coast Mariners side who have made a decent start to the campaign. Therefore, we fancy them to share the spoils in midweek and take home a point apiece.
Top betting tip
George Cannon
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Melbourne City win with a probability of 56.45%. A draw had a probability of 22.3% and a win for Central Coast Mariners had a probability of 21.26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Melbourne City win was 1-2 with a probability of 9.9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (9.72%) and 0-2 (9.2%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.45%), while for a Central Coast Mariners win it was 2-1 (5.63%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 1.9% likelihood.
