Central Coast Mariners vs Macarthur Prediction: Bulls to take Gosford game by the horns

Central Coast Mariners, bottom of the Australian A-League Men's after falling to their fifth defeat in six last weekend, face a tough test at Polytec Stadium this Saturday (07:00 GMT, TNT Sports 2) against Macarthur FC.

Below are my Central Coast Mariners vs Macarthur predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

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Team News

Central Coast Mariners captain Trent Sainsbury is still sidelined with an Achilles injury, while Nathan Paull and Dylan Peraic-Cullen are on international duty with Australia at the 2026 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia.

Ryan Edmondson, Shumba Mutokoyi and Laurence Taylor have all been left out of Warren Moon's extended squad, but new signings Oliver Lavale and Ali Auglah are in line to make their debuts on Saturday.

Football Odds

Macarthur head coach Mile Sterjovski could hand out a debut of his own, with Australia international Mitch Duke named in the squad for the first time since sealing a mid-season switch from Japanese J1 League club Machida Zelvia.

Defender Tomsilav Uskok returns from suspension, but Duran Martinez and Frans Deli have been omitted from the extended squad, while Ji Dong-won, Harry Politidis (both ankle) and Henrique Oliveira (unspecified) are out injured.

Central Coast Mariners vs Macarthur Odds

The Mariners have lost five of their last six games, and they are 2/1, or a 33.3% chance, to claim all three points on Saturday, with Macarthur 23/20, or a 46.5% chance, to bounce back from last weekend's 3-0 home defeat to Sydney FC with a victory in Gosford.

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

Match Result - Macarthur @ 23/20

Macarthur have only picked up one point from their last two games against Auckland (1-1) and Sydney (0-3), but heading into Round 13, those two sides and ranked first and second, respectively, so those results were no disgrace.

Next up, they take on a Mariners side at the bottom of the standings, and with six defeats in their last eight games, including five in their last six.

Today's Football Fixtures

The Bulls lost their first two away games of the league season to Brisbane Roar (1-0) and Sydney (2-0), but are unbeaten in their last four travel matches, winning three times and drawing once.

Boosted by the arrival of a proven striker, Duke, Saturday's visitors to Polyetc Stadium should be confident of securing all three points against a side who have lost their last three at this venue and are winless in their last five, last tasting success on home soil in a 3-2 victory over Newcastle Jets on October 19.

Handicap -1 - Macarthur -1 @ 16/5

We can take things further in this second selection by backing Macarthur to overcome a -1 handicap at 16/5.

All six of the Bulls' league wins this season have been by a single goal, but bolstered by the signing of Duke, I think they can make life more comfortable for themselves on Saturday, against a poor Mariners side who were beaten by three goals last weekend.

That marked the third time this term that CCM have suffered a defeat by two or more goals, following a 2-0 defeat at Sydney on October 25 and a 3-1 loss at Wellington Phoenix on December 21.

Nick Ware P/L 25/26 ALM Season (After GW12)

 P/L: +9.23%