Fresh off a Christmas week bye, City will head to Gosford the Mariners guest for their traditional New Years’ Eve clash.
Having lost just one of their last five matches, City is in much better form than the Mariners who got trounced by Auckland on the weekend.
Perhaps they will respond to the spray coach Mark Jackson delivered after the match but right now they are a proper stay away.
There is plenty of value about City’s Israeli player Yonatan Cohen too, with four goals in his last five matches including the opening goal in the Melbourne Derby.
BEST: Melbourne City to Win $2.25 | VALUE: Yonatan Cohen First Goalscorer $6.00
The league leaders are back on track after their two game blip, holding a four point advantage over Adelaide and five over the Victory, with both challengers undergoing their own struggles.
That does not bode well for the visitors on this occasion, having suffered a rough defeat at the hands of Sydney FC on Saturday night which was compounded by the red card to Zinedine Machach.
Now set to play the best team in the league without one of their key players, this just looks like a bad spot for them and a match I’m happy to take the Victory on.
If Auckland are in a ruthless mood this match could get ugly quickly.
BEST: Auckland to Win $2.45 | VALUE: Auckland to Win Both Halves $7.50
It’s an all-Sydney clash to round out the New Years Day action and it looks a lot more intriguing than it did a month or two ago.
Western Sydney have won three of their last four with the only miss a draw against Brisbane.
Macathur has gone five games without defeat with two wins and three draws, but both wins came as the visitors, although this will be a slightly shorter road trip than Wellington or Perth.
What splits this game though is the Bulls look like a far more reliable team defensively having conceded just two goals in their last four outings while the Wanderers have allowed five.
It might not be pretty but the visitors look like the value play in this market, especially as underdogs.
BEST: Macarthur to Win $3.00 | VALUE: Macarthur to Win to Nil $6.50