Melbourne City vs Sydney 01/08/20

01 August 2020

The two sides that have had identical returns from their last three A-League fixtures (W1, D1, L1) go head-to-head at AAMI Park this midweek, as Melbourne City take on Sydney FC.

A lack of defensive quality has seen Melbourne concede over 1.5 goals in three of their last four A-League outings (W2, D1, L1). However, Erick Mombaerts’ men are enjoying a six-game unbeaten run at home (W4, D2), with four of those wins yielding a full-time margin of a single goal. That’s a sharp contrast to City’s recent fortunes in top-flight home clashes against Sydney. Indeed, they’ve lost all four of their previous such encounters – three via at least a two-goal margin. What’s more, Melbourne have drawn a blank in six of their last nine A-League H2Hs, home and away, scoring once per match in two of the other three (W1, L8).

Despite winning only once in their last four A-League outings (D2, L1), the visitors harbor an 11-point lead over second-placed Wellington Phoenix and have a game in hand. The ‘Sky Blues’ take the field after racking up an eight-game unbeaten run away from home (W6, D2), netting over 1.5 goals seven times across that streak. Indeed, only their match hosts have scored more A-League goals on the road than Sydney (23) this season. Additionally, last year’s runners-up boast the division’s second-best away defensive record, having shipped an average of 0.9 goals per A-League trip so far. The majority (77.78%) of Sydney’s nine league away goals conceded arrived before the break!