Melbourne City target their first win over Melbourne Victory this season when the two sides launch Round 18 of the A-League on Friday night.

City vs Victory kicks off at 7.30pm AEDT at AAMI Park. The game will be broadcast live on Fox Sports in Australia.

Prediction

Match Preview

It’s derby weekend in the A-League and we start with one of the biggest matches of the round as cross-town rivals City and Victory lock horns at AAMI Park on Friday night.

City may be sitting nicely in second spot on the ladder, but they’ve only won one of their last four games and trail competition leaders Sydney FC by 13 points, effectively meaning the chase for the minor premiership and a guaranteed Asian Champions League spot is over.

Without a win in their last two matches after a 0-0 stalemate with Perth and a 3-1 loss to Adelaide last week, City will need significant improvement if they are to post their first derby win of the season after a 0-0 deadlock in Round 1 and a 2-1 loss in Round 11.

Furthermore, City haven’t beaten Victory at AAMI Park in their last six meetings.

In saying that, Victory have been struggling all season as Carlos Salvachua heads into his first Melbourne derby as head coach.

Salvachua secured the first point of his A-League coaching career last week in Perth courtesy of a 2-2 draw, with Victory robbed of the win in the last minute by Nick D’Agostino.

The result leaves Victory in ninth position and with a lot of work to do in order to make the finals. All three points on Friday night would do nicely for the Navy Blue.

Match Odds

Melbourne City – $2.10
Melbourne Victory – $3.60
Draw – $3.50

MORE MATCH ODDS FROM SPORTSBET

Stats

– City winless in their last six matches against Victory at AAMI Park
– Victory winless in last four A-League matches
– No team has lost more points from winning positions this season than Victory (14)

Tips