It’s international break all across Europe but that hasn’t stopped the Australian A-League from starting up this weekend! There’s plenty of excitement surrounding what’s shaping to be the best season in the league’s history, so let’s get stuck into our Round 1 best bets!
In case you missed it, head to our Soccer Tips page to catch our best futures bets for the upcoming A-League season. You’ll also find all our EPL, Europe, and international soccer betting tips there, so make sure you check in regularly to avoid missing out!
A-League Round 1 Betting Tips
Adelaide United vs Sydney FC (Friday 7:30pm AEDT)
Adelaide will be looking to improve on a fairly promising campaign last time out where they finished in fourth and were knocked out in the semi-finals. They’ve signed young gun Riley McGree from Melbourne City and will be leaning on him to do a lot of the heavy lifting. They do lack some quality veterans, which could make life difficult for their younger brigade.
Sydney FC will be out to continue what they’ve been doing in previous seasons to give themselves another chance at a title. They were the champions last season and are our pick to repeat this year. They'll run it back with Milos Ninkovic and Adam Le Fondre, while adding Kosta Barbarouses to their ranks. They're just a fantastic team all over the pitch.
It’s always tough to predict winners in Round 1, but you’re usually safe when you side with Sydney FC. They’re last year’s champs for a reason and have a great chance to get their new campaign underway with a win on Friday night and we expect them to do just that.
Melbourne Victory vs Melbourne City (Saturday 7:30pm AEDT)
Melbourne Victory had a fairly disappointing campaign in 2018-19 by their standards. They never really hit top gear and ended up being eliminated in the semi-finals after finishing in third spot in the regular season. Star striker Ola Toivonen will captain the side this year, while Marco Kurz takes the coaching reins from Kevin Muscat. It's a fairly new-look Victory side, so it'll be interesting to see the line-up they go with first up.
Melbourne City are coming off a turbulent year and have made the most changes of any side in the off-season. They've totally shaken up both their squad and their staff, which is a high risk/high reward type of play. Craig Noone is their star signing and will be the one to watch going forward for City as they look to contend for this year’s title.
City arguably have the better squad after a busy off-season, but we expect it to take time for them to gel properly and see results on the pitch. Until that happens, we’re happy to oppose them when they’re up against the big dogs in the league, starting with Melbourne Victory in the Derby on Saturday night.
Wellington Phoenix vs Western United (Sunday 4pm AEDT)
Wellington snuck into the finals last season after an un-and-down campaign that ended with an elimination final loss to Melbourne Victory. In truth they’ve had a fairly disappointing off-season and aren’t tipped by many to cause damage this year as a result. They do boast the A-League’s best centre back in Steven Taylor, but their struggles will probably lie on the other end of the pitch with their lack of quality in the final third.
Western United are the new kids on the block and will attract a lot of interest this weekend when they make their A-League debut. They’ve made a couple of key signings, namely Besart Berisha and Panagiotis Kone, and should be an exciting team to watch throughout the season.
Western United’s team looks the better one on paper, but a lack of team chemistry will likely haunt them in their early fixtures this season. We expect Phoenix to take control of this match at home and claim three points at great odds in our best value bet for Round 1.
