Melbourne City vs Wellington Phoenix: Australian Championship Match Prediction
Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix will play in the 12th round of the Australian A-League. The visitors have not lived up to expectations and are not even in the playoff zone, although they took second place last season. The hosts are in fifth position and are only three points behind the leading three. Who will be able to win on January 3? The answer is in our forecast for this match.

Command Analysis

Melbourne City FC

Current form
Melbourne City do not plan to leave the top half of the A-League standings. The team started the new season with four away victories in a row - they managed to beat Newcastle Jets (1:0), Western United (1:0), Perth Glory (5:0) and the league main outsider, Brisbane Roar (4:1). At the same time, the club has already lost twice on its home field - first to Melbourne Victory (1:3), and then to the much more modest Western Side Wanderers (0:2). In the last three rounds, the Melbourne club shared tournament points with Auckland (2:2), Melbourne Victory (1:1) and Central Coast Mariners (1:1).
Disqualifications and injuries
The visitors are without Alessandro Lopane, Andrew Nabbout, Jayden Nekovski, Marco Tilio and Matthew Leckie due to injuries.
Interesting trends for betting
- The team has not lost in four matches in a row.
- The hosts have failed to win their last three home matches.
Estimated lineup: Beach - Talbot, Trewin, Supraien, Atkinson - Ugarkovich, Schreiber - Cohen, Kuhn, Politidis - Memeti

Wellington Phoenix

Current form
Wellington Phoenix have been in the playoffs for three years in a row, and the season started off quite well for the New Zealanders, but now the team is in crisis. The team recently suffered three defeats in a row - from Auckland (1:2), Macarthur (1:2) and Western Sydney Wanderers (1:4). Due to the series of defeats, the team dropped to the bottom half of the table. They still managed to finish the calendar year on a high note - the visitors beat one of the outsiders, Newcastle Jets (2:1). The Wellington club is in ninth place in the league and is two points behind the top 6.
Disqualifications and injuries
Stefan Kolakowski and Marco Rojas will not help the team due to injuries.
Interesting trends for betting
- The team has lost three of its last four league matches.
- None of Wellington last five away games have ended in a draw
Prospective lineup: Oluwayemi - Payne, Sheridan, Wooton, Sutton - Rufer, Hughes - Retre, Nagasavi - Barbarouses, Ishige
Trends
Bet Number 1 in the final score
This pattern has worked in the last five matches of the visitors
1.70Bet Both Teams to Score
The bet has played in the hosts' last four matches
1.65Bet Exact score 1:1
The hosts' last two matches ended with this score
8.00Tip and bets
The visitors dropped a lot of points at the end of 2024, but the coaching staff probably made a lot of adjustments during the New Year holidays, which should help the team get back on track. Wellington Phoenix clearly does not want to move further away from the playoff zone, so they need to take points in the match with Melbourne City. The hosts have not won a single game in the last three rounds, so the task is clearly feasible for the New Zealanders.
Our prediction is Wellington Phoenix not to lose at 2.10
Bet on total
Both opponents want to start the new year with a win, which requires not only an effective attack, but also a competent defense. We think that the team that scores first will start playing by the score and go into defense. In the last two face-to-face matches, only one goal was scored, most likely, history will repeat itself.
Our prediction is total under 2.5 goals for 2.20
Bet on the first half
We don't expect the opponents to go forward in force immediately after the starting whistle. It will obviously take time to get to know each other. In this scenario, a draw at the end of the first half is likely.
Our prediction is a draw in the first half at 2.45