Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory will go head-to-head at the Central Coast Stadium on Saturday in round 10 of the 2022-23 Australian A-League season.
Having both suffered defeat in their last outings, the teams now head into this weekend's meeting aiming to secure an immediate return to winning ways.
Match preview
Central Coast Mariners fell to a 1-0 defeat against Melbourne City when the sides faced off at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Tuesday morning.
Nick Montgomery's men fell behind to Jamie Maclaren's opener six minutes before the half-time whistle, and that was enough to put them to the sword.
As a result, the Sauce bottles have now slipped to fourth place in the Australian A-League table, six points off top spot despite having played a game more.
Up next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are without defeat in the most recent five meetings between the teams, picking up two wins and three draws.
Currently with the joint second-best home record in the division, Saturday's hosts now go in search of a third consecutive victory in front of their fans.
Melbourne Victory came away empty-handed from Monday's encounter against Western United at the AAMI Park, which ended in a narrow 1-0 loss.
Tony Popovic's men had a man advantage for over one hour of the contest but could not capitalise, as Joshua Risdon's late first-half strike proved to be the difference.
With 10 points from their eight matches this term, The Boys in Blue sit ninth in the league standings, two points adrift of the last playoff spot.
Having failed to score in three of four games on the road leading up to Saturday's contest, the away side will need to up the ante at the attacking end of the pitch to turn their away fortunes around.
Team News
Central Coast's Marco Tulio has been directly involved in three goals in his last two home appearances, and the 24-year-old will be looking to deliver the goods once again.
Midfielder Joshua Nisbet could be recalled to the starting lineup for Saturday's clash after he was dropped to the hosts' bench last time out.
Nicholas D'Agostino was on target for Melbourne Victory in the last fixture involving this weekend's opponents, making the Australian one to keep an eye on.
Joshua Brillante recently made his return from a brief injury layoff and should retain his place in the XI, with Nani set to miss out for the away side.
Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:
Vukovic; Roux, Hall, Kaltak, Farrell; Kuol, Nisbet, Steele, Silvera; Cummings, Tulio
Melbourne Victory possible starting lineup:
Izzo; Timotheou, Broxham, Geria, Cadete, Ikonomidis; Brimmer, Brillante, Rai; Fornaroli, D'Agostino
We say: Central Coast Mariners 3-1 Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory have struggled to find the back of the net on a consistent basis of late, while Central Coast Mariners boast more goals than any other Australian team this term. We are tipping the hosts to ease past the threat of their visitors and come away with all three points in the end.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
