Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United Prediction: Tensions to spill over at Suncorp after card-crazy Coopers contest

After starting the calendar year with three successive defeats, Brisbane Roar returned to winning ways at Perth Glory (1-2) last Friday, moving up to fourth in the Australian A-League Men’s.

Next up, the Roar take on Adelaide United, who recorded a third win from their last five games (D1, L1) at home to Melbourne Victory (2-1) last weekend. Below are my Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United predictions, alongside all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of Saturday’s meeting at Suncorp Stadium (06:00 GMT, TNT Sports 1).

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Team News

Jacob Brazete, James O’Shea, Milorad Stajic (all leg) and Nathan Amanatidis (quad) are out injured for Brisbane Roar, whose head coach Michael Valkanis has included Jackson O’Reilly and Mikael Evagorou-Alao in his extended squad.

New signing Nicholas D’Agostino, who joined on loan from Norwegian side Viking earlier this week, isn’t fit enough to feature this weekend.

Football Odds

Adelaide United are boosted by the returns of Luka Jovanovic and Yaya Dukuly from international duty, but boss Airton Andrioli has omitted Austin Ayoubi and Amlani Tatu from his extended squad.

Dylan Pierias (knee) and Ethan Alagich (unspecified) are sidelined for the Reds due to injury.

Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United Odds

Brisbane Roar, who went undefeated in all three head-to-heads last year (W1, D2), are 6/5 favourites on Saturday, implying a 45.5% probability of success, while Adelaide United are 15/8, or a 34.8% chance, to exact revenge for their 1-0 loss in December’s reverse fixture at Coopers Stadium.

The draw is priced at 9/4, both teams to score at 8/13, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/5.

Booking Points Over/Under +42.5 - Over 42.5 @ 11/8

December's head-to-head at Coopers was a feisty affair as nine yellow cards were issued on the field, with another one produced on the sidelines for Brisbane boss Valkanis, who saw six of his players booked.

No surprise, then, that the Roar have picked up at least 11 more yellows than any other side in the ALM this season.

Adelaide have been shown 19 yellows, but they are one of only three clubs to have received two reds.

Today's Football Fixtures

Over 42.5 booking points has been a winning selection in 10 of the Roar's 14 ALM games this season, including their last four, and while only four of United's 13 have gone that way, two of those have come in the last two weeks, with 50 produced in their 2-2 draw at Wellington Phoenix on January 11, and 60 awarded in their 2-1 success over Melbourne Victory six days later.

First Team To Score - Adelaide United @ 23/20

Brisbane have conceded the first goal of the game on five occasions this season, which is quite a lot when you consider that they have only been breached in seven matches, keeping the same number of clean sheets.

Valkanis' side have conceded the opening goal in their last four games, including in last week's 2-1 win at Perth Glory.

The Roar have gone a goal down in the first half of all four of those contests, and on Saturday, they host a side, Adelaide, who have opened the scoring in the first half of four of their last five matches.

The Reds have made fast starts to their last two away games, netting the only goal in the 12th minute of their win at Perth Glory, and striking in the 14th minute of their 2-0 victory at Wellington Phoenix earlier this month.

Last season, Pierias struck first for Adelaide in the 11th minute of a 1-1 draw at Suncorp.

Nick Ware P/L 25/26 ALM Season (After GW13)

 P/L: +7.9%