Western United vs Newcastle Jets Prediction: Stamatelopoulos to haunt old side again

Two teams craving a victory in the Australian A-League Men’s meet in Melbourne on Friday (KO, 08:45), as Western United host Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.

The game will be one of the last few to be played at AAMI Park as a home one by the Western United men’s side, following the news earlier this week that the club will begin playing at Wyndham City Stadium in Tarneit from March 17.

Western United started the campaign at Mars Stadium in Ballarat, losing all three games there before being forced into the home of Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City. AAMI Park has been slightly kinder on them, with all four of their ‘home’ points picked up there.

In truth, they’ve not fared any better away from home, picking up the second half of their points total on the road to leave themselves bottom and eight points behind 11th-placed Perth Glory.

It’s not been a great season for the Jets either, who are just two points higher than Glory, and they’ve only managed to pick up two points from their last three games.

Team News

Western United’s two vice-captains – defender Tomoki Imai and midfielder Steven Lustica – are both set to return to the squad after missing recent games, but head coach John Aloisi will again be without his two first-choice left-backs – Ben Garuccio and Connor O’Toole – due to injury.

Riku Danzaki also misses out again as a result of the injury he sustained in United’s final game of 2023, away to the Jets on December 30, as does Jacob Tratt.

The visitors could be without ex-Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson for a fourth straight game, while midfielder Jacob Dowse is still yet to make his league debut for the Jets after sustaining an injury in the Australia Cup last August.

Match Odds

Despite their shocking home form this season, Western United arrive into this fixture as the favourites to win at 11/10, with the draw available at 13/5. Newcastle Jets haven’t won any of their last five away from home, which perhaps explains their price of 15/8 to claim victory.

Both teams to score has landed in five of the last seven between these two, and it’s 4/9 to come in again on Friday.

Newcastle Jets to win and BTTS – Yes @ 7/2

The Jets have a poor recent away record and have won only twice away from Newcastle all season, but one of those did come against Western United last November, albeit at a different stadium (Mars Stadium, Ballarat).

Just one win from their last seven isn’t a great look either, but three of those have been respectable draws (away to Macarthur FC, home to Melbourne Victory, and away to Western Sydney Wanderers), and they took leaders Wellington Phoenix to the wire in a 2-1 defeat on January 27.

One of the most impressive things about this Jets outfit has been their consistent ability to find the net. Robert Stanton’s side have scored at least once in 15 of their 17 league games, and they have struck more times on the road (17 in 10) than any other team in the division.

After back-to-back draws against a couple of the big boys (Victory and Wanderers), now is the time for the Jets to pick up a long-awaited win as they seek to climb up the table and sneak into the top-six.

There could be a goal or two in it for the hosts though, with BTTS – Yes landing in six of the Jets’ last seven matches.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to score 2+ goals @ 15/2

The 24-year-old returned to the A-League Men’s – and the Jets – last summer after a two-year hiatus in Greece, and he’s certainly made an impact.

Stamatelopoulos has scored 13 goals in 15 league appearances to lead the goalscoring charts alongside Melbourne Victory’s Bruno Fornaroli heading into round 17.

The forward has struck in four of his last six matches and helped himself to a brace last time out as the Jets played out a pulsating 3-3 draw with Western Sydney Wanderers.

That was the fourth time this season that Stamatelopoulos had scored a double, and the odds look enticing for him to make it a fifth on Thursday against a side that have conceded at least twice in six of their last seven.

He scored the only goal of the game in Ballarat last November and his previous outing against Western United saw him dismissed before the hour-mark.

With that in mind, and as a former player of United – where he went goalless in 12 games – expect Stamatelopoulos to be fired up for this one on Friday.

Check out the rest of our Football Betting Tips here.