Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne City Prediction: Winless woes to continue for the Roar

Brisbane Roar proved my faith in the Lions was not misplaced last Saturday as they played out a 4-4 thriller at Macarthur's Campbelltown Stadium to pick up their first point of the 2024/25 Australian A-League Men's campaign and net a 1/1 double chance winner in my Macarthur vs Brisbane Roar preview. Melbourne City, meanwhile, disappointed earlier in the day as they fell to a first defeat since October 26 at home to Western Sydney Wanderers (0-2).

Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City meet next at the former's Suncorp Stadium on Friday (08:35, TNT Sports 2), and ahead of the game, you can check out my Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne City prediction below.

Team News

Ecuadorian attacker Neicer Acosta is back available for Brisbane Roar for the first time since round one after recently recovering from a leg injury.

Meanwhile, Joe Calletti and Corey Brown are named in the extended squad by Ruben Zadkovich after missing out last time, but Ben Halloran, who has featured in every game since joining the Roar from Adelaide United in the off-season, is out.

Football Odds

Melbourne City are still without injured Socceroos trio Mathew Leckie, Andrew Nabbout and Marco Tilio, while Max Caputo, Alessandro Lopane and Jayden Necovski are also still in the treatment room for Aurelio Vidmar's side.

Harry Politidis and James Jeggo are both pushing for starts after being introduced as City's first two substitutes in last weekend's loss.

Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne City Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Brisbane Roar vs Melbourne City page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Brisbane Roar are 9/5 to triumph for the first time since April 5 when they beat Western Sydney Wanderers 2-1 at CommBank Stadium in the 2023/24 campaign. Their last victory at Suncorp Stadium, meanwhile, came all the way back on March 3 in a 3-2 success against Melbourne Victory. The Roar's odds on Friday give the hosts an implied win probability of 35.7%, while Melbourne City are 6/5, or a 45.5% chance, to return to winning ways after last weekend's disappointment.

The draw is priced at 12/5, both teams to score at 1/2, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/7.

Roar striker Thomas Waddingham, who tripled his season tally with a brace against Macarthur last Saturday, is 7/4 favorite in the anytime goalscorer market, followed by Melbourne City duo Yonatan Cohen and Medin Memeti (both 15/8).

Double Chance & Both Teams to Score - Draw or Melbourne City & Yes @ 21/20

Only Macarthur and Western Sydney Wanderers (both 25) have seen more goals in their matches than Brisbane Roar (22) this season, with the Roar averaging 4.4 per game. However, they have only been responsible for eight of that total, a number that has been reflected in their paltry points total of one.

Both teams have scored in 60 per cent (three) of their five ALM contests, including their last two, a 3-2 defeat to Adelaide United at Sydney FC's Allianz Stadium on November 23 and the 4-4 draw with Macarthur a week later. Scoring goals hasn't been a major issue for the Roar, even though they've blanked in two separate games, as they have scored at least two in the other three and eight in total.

Keeping the opposition out has been a problem for Zadkovich's side, however. They are yet to keep a clean sheet this term and have conceded at least twice in all five matches. Last time out, a game-high four goals were shipped, taking their conceded total to 14 - the highest in the division.

Melbourne City were denied by Western Sydney Wanderers last time out but had found the net at least once in their previous four fixtures, winning three of them and scoring eight goals. They're missing some influential attackers but still possess several who can cause the Roar some serious headaches on Friday.

I think both teams to score is a goer in this contest but to boost the odds I'm adding in the double chance result on Melbourne City, who have won five of the previous seven head-to-heads, losing just once in that time, although that did come in their only meeting so far this calendar year on February 10 when they inexplicably fell to a 3-2 defeat at Suncorp.

City still won the season aggregate, however, as they had thrashed the Roar 8-1 at AAMI Park in the December of that season.

Friday's hosts showed fight in their 4-4 thriller with the Bulls last time out, coming from 4-3 down to equalise in injury time, but the facts are that they let a two-goal lead slip and their vulnerabilities are on show for everyone to see at the minute, so at the very least, City should avoid defeat in another potentially high-scoring encounter between the two clubs.

Anytime Goalscorer - Thomas Waddingham (BRI) @ 7/4

The Mark Viduka comparisons just keep on coming for Waddingham, whose well-taken brace last week took him to 10 career goals in the A-Leagues - only Nestory Irankunda (16), now at German giants Bayern Munich, has more before the age of 20.

“Viduka? Hopefully. It would be great for Australian football if he can take that next jump,” former Melbourne City and Premier League star Thomas Sorensen said earlier this week.

Waddingham's next task is to net in back-to-back games for the first time this season as his only goal prior to last weekend preceded a two-match blank.

City aren't the easiest side to get past, as evidenced by the three clean sheets they have recorded so far.

However, Waddingham bagged a brace in Brisbane's 5-1 annihilation of City in February and will back himself to breach their defence again on Friday after the Melbourne club conceded twice to the Wanderers last time out.

Offers

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