Back the hosts to see off Melbourne in Friday's live A League clash in Sydney.
Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory – Friday 08:50, BT Sport 1
The top two teams in the A-League face off in this encounter at Allianz Stadium with six games left in the regular season. With the Victory eight points behind Sydney a win for the league leaders at home would surely put their position at the top of the table beyond the reach of others. The hosts rebounded from their loss two weeks ago with an assured win over a 10-man Melbourne City side, and with an all-but-full squad to choose from they’ll feel ebullient about their chances here.
Sydney have won five of six undefeated matches stretching back to last season at home against top-half sides, scoring an average of just under three goals a game in that run, and having beaten the Victory at home earlier in the season they’ll back themselves to do it again on Friday. The Victory have won just one of their last four away games and that was against the league’s second-bottom team. After a run of just one win in their last six away games against top-half sides they’ll struggle to win at Sydney.
Sydney and Melbourne have all-but guaranteed byes through the first round of the play-offs, but we think that the Sky Blues have been imperious at home and will feel confident in their ability to dispatch the Victory. The home win looks a shade big at Evens.
