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Melbourne City will entertain local rivals Melbourne Victory at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in the A-League on Saturday.
The hosts are unbeaten in their last three league outings, recording two wins. In their previous outing, they were held to a 3-3 draw by the Central Coast Mariners as goals from Marin Jakoliš, Tolgay Arslan, and Alessandro Lopane helped them equalize after Ángel Torres bagged a second-half hat-trick for the Mariners.
The visitors registered a 3-0 win over Sydney last week, to maintain their unbeaten start to the league campaign. Two wins in a row have helped them climb to second place in the league table with 16 points to their name. The city's three-game unbeaten run has helped them reach seventh place in the standings.
Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- This will be the 42nd edition of the Melbourne derby. They have been evenly matched in these meetings with 15 wins apiece and 11 games have ended in draws. Last season, both teams registered home wins in their A-League meetings.
- Four of the last six meetings between the two teams have produced over 2.5 goals, with visitors outscoring the hosts 10-9 in these games.
- The visitors are the only team with an unbeaten record in the A-League this season, with four wins and draws apiece to their name.
- Melbourne Victory have the best attacking record in the league, scoring 19 goals, with nine coming this month.
- Melbourne City are unbeaten in their last three home games in the A-League. Their last two home games have ended in 3-3 draws.
- The hosts have the joint second-worst defensive record in the A-League this season, conceding 16 goals in eight games, with eight of them coming in home games.
Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Prediction
Hearts are unbeaten in their three league games in December, recording two wins, and their unbeaten run across all competitions stretches to five games, with three games ending in draws. Interestingly, they are winless in their last four home games in all competitions, suffering a defeat and drawing three games in a row.
Mathew Leckie, James Nieuwenhuizen, Andrew Nabbout, Zane Schreiber, and Arion Sulemani are sidelined for the hosts. Nonetheless, Aurelio Vidmar should be able to field a strong starting XI in this first Melbourne derby.
Big V have enjoyed an unbeaten run in the league this season and after drawing four games in a row between November and December, they have registered two wins in a row. They have scored seven goals in their last two league games and will look to build on that goalscoring form here.
There are no major absentees for the visitors in this match and they will count on Bruno Fornaroli's goalscoring form in this match.
Considering the current form of the two teams and their record in this fixture, we expect them to play out a high-scoring draw.
Prediction: Melbourne City 2-2 Melbourne Victory
Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Betting Tips
Tip 1: Result - Draw
Tip 2: Goals - Over/Under 2.5 Goals - Over 2.5 goals
Tip 3: At least one goal to be scored in the second half - Yes
Tip 4: Bruno Fornaroli to score or assist any time - Yes
