A-League tipping continues to be a challenging exercise, with the panel stumped in Round 9 by the Jets’ win on the road against Adelaide, Macarthur’s triumph over Sydney FC and two early draws that few predicted.

Things get no easier in Round 10, with every match seemingly a close contest to call and the ladder ramifications significant for all clubs.

In what is shaping as the tightest A-League season for some time, Victory and Sydney continue to struggle, whilst new contenders in the form of Western Sydney, Central Coast and Macarthur are making early season statements.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say as the impressively performing voice of the crowd. Here are the panel’s thoughts on all the Round 10 action.

Mike Tuckerman

United, Central Coast, Newcastle, Draw, City, Adelaide.

The A-League remains as fiendishly difficult to tip as ever, even if Western United were always going to steady the ship sooner or later. After recording back-to-back 1-0 home wins, John Aloisi will fancy his chances of making it three in a row against his former club.

Brisbane Roar have picked up one of the signings of the season in Carlo Armiento, but they still look desperately short of firepower elsewhere. Expect the home team to grind out another narrow victory in another sterile AAMI Park atmosphere.

It’s been a bit of a rocks and diamonds campaign for the Central Coast Mariners, who’ve only drawn one game so far – in the first game of the season.

They’re coming off the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat on the road at Melbourne City, but they always fire up for the New Year’s Eve clash and will take on a Melbourne Victory side down on confidence. The rumblings about Tony Popovic’s cautious style are growing ever louder. They visitors should walk into an ambush and return to Bleak City empty-handed.

If any team has flattered to deceive this season, it’s the Newcastle Jets. They’ve only strung back-to-back wins together once – in the opening two rounds of the season – and they tend to follow a promising win with another disappointing defeat.

They should go into this clash with the Sky Blues as favourites, however, and they’ll hope their stop-start attack is firing on all cylinders on New Year’s Day. Sydney FC are missing Joe Lolley through suspension and look short of ideas across the park. The Jets should win this.

When is a derby not a derby? You’d think there’d be a bit of needle in this one, but the only problem is Western Sydney remain chronically out of form.

They should have beaten Brisbane Roar last time out only to turn in a dire second half performance, and they won’t find things much easier against a Bulls side that blew Sydney FC away. Despite all their attacking riches, Macarthur aren’t necessarily the most free-flowing of sides either. I expect this one to finish all square in Parramatta.

Wellington are one of the few sides to have taken anything off Melbourne City this season, but the problem for coach Ufuk Talay has been converting draws into victories.

The Kiwi outfit could only manage another 1-1 draw with Perth Glory just before Christmas, and while they should be backed by a parochial home crowd, they’re coming up against the best side in the competition. City haven’t missed a trick since Paddy Kisnorbo departed for Troyes. This game will be a test, but they should jag another win here.

The World Cup break did Adelaide United no favours, and they’ve only picked up a point in three games since the resumption of the A-League. They’ll hope to get back to winning ways against their fierce rivals from across the Nullarbor, and they’ll take plenty of confidence from an earlier 2-1 win over the Glory at Coopers Stadium.

The visitors looked to have turned the tide with a desperately needed 2-1 win over Western United, but they’ve failed to impress since. It’s hard to see how the Reds don’t win this one.

Stuart Thomas

United, Central Coast, Newcastle, Macarthur, Wellington, Adelaide

Finally the champions have their wagon rolling and two wins has seen them loom close to entering the top six. Expect a third on the trot against the Roar, who could make a considerable jump with a win of their own, Something tells me this could be a cracking affair.

The Mariners looked poor without Josh Nisbet ferreting around in the midfield last week and need him back against the Victory. As for Tony Popovic’s team, well, I’m just not sure where their heads are at and their football lacked punch against United last time out.

The Coasties to win it. Newcastle will be favourites against Sydney FC and should win. The Sky Blues are simply not that good and something needs to change for them. Sitting sixth, the Jets are about to announce themselves to the competition.

Western Sydney versus Macarthur FC is likely to be a cagey affair and the Bulls’ firepower up front should see them grab the points. Despite sitting second on the ladder, the Wanderers are yet to convince many people that they are serious contenders. This would be a good place to start.

City look the class of the competition, yet Wellington are a tough proposition at home. A stunning upset in New Zealand as the Phoenix knock of the champions with a flurry of first half goals.

Could somebody please wake Adelaide United up and remind them that they were one of the most impressive A-League teams prior to the World Cup break? Surely they get things back on a track against a Perth team that has a win and a draw from their last three games?

Nestory Irankunda (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Blayne Treadgold

TBC

Andrew Prentice

United, Central Coast, Draw, Western Sydney, Wellington, Adelaide

From now on, the Roar should enter the field to Underworld’s 80s hit “Underneath The Radar.” They’ve lost once all season and have disguised themselves to tipsters and opponents alike. They are equal worst for goals scored and equal best for goals conceded.

Their opponents have scored almost double the goals but conceded three times as many. All those stats confuse me so I’ll just go with the home team, who have a genuine scorer in Aleksander Prijovic leading their line.

Victory couldn’t score against a 10 man Western for 60 minutes last round and their off-field problems are translating to on-field profligacy in front of goal. The Mariners cavalier style usually gives opponents a chance but their energetic attack, stultified somewhat by the almost 40 degree heat in Melbourne against City, will surely be on show in Garang Kuol’s farewell match.

Garang Kuol. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

It’s difficult to understand the form of Newcastle and Sydney FC. The Jets were touted as a sparkling attacking side in early rounds, but have been anything but of late. However, they were defensively resolute in keeping Adelaide scoreless last round.

The Sky Blues were awful against Macarthur on Christmas Eve, even allowing for the red card loss of Joe Lolley. They seem to be defensively threadbare and badly need a result to get their season back on track. This clash might just present them with that opportunity.

The Wanderers haven’t won since the last derby clash with Sydney FC prior to the World Cup break. Macarthur have found form since the resumption, at least by A League standards, with two wins in a row, and they have a fit-again Ulises Davila giving defenders headaches.

Western Sydney deployed regular central midfielder Ollie Bozanic up front against Brisbane and he scored inside 20 minutes. But that does little to disguise the Wanderers scoring problems – 8 goals in 9 games is not the kind of strike rate to keep them in second place. New Year’s Day might be their time.

The Phoenix had a 10,000 kilometre round trip as an early Christmas present with their distance derby clash against Perth. City sweltered in a listless yet successful display against the Mariners and will have four days less rest than the Phoenix, who cashed in their frequent flyer points for duty-free Chrissy gifts and put their feet up for a week. That reason alone gives me cause to think we might be in for an upset in this one.

Before the league resumed, this fixture would have looked like a home banker, with the Reds flying high in second spot and welcoming back World Cup star Craig Goodwin, while Perth looked like a rabble, barely able to raise a pulse.

The ensuing three games has seen those fortunes re-align, and the Glory look far more resilient, while the Reds have fallen into a form trough. The pragmatist in me feels that can’t last, and Reds coach Carl Veart will be hammering some home truths into his team after they let Newcastle come to Hindmarsh and fleece them of all three points.

Texi Smith

United, Central Coast, Sydney, Western Sydney, City, Adelaide

Western United scored a great win against Melbourne Victory on Boxing Day, and with Nikolai Topor-Stanley harshly sent off, they had no right to win it.

Roar were good value last Friday against the Wanderers, and have a number of talented players screaming to play more of a role in the first team since Charlie Austin’s departure. United’s resurgence will be in evidence here, and Dylan Pierias will star in a vital victory for the home team, Alessandro Diamanti scoring a penalty after coming off the bench for the last ten minutes.

Melbourne Victory sit perilously close to the bottom of the table, yet with such a congested league, they are only three points adrift of fourth-placed Central Coast Mariners.

Both teams are smarting from defeats over the festive period, and we’ll see a big improvement on Saturday night.

The talented forward line of Victory will remind everyone of their firepower, but the home fans will enjoy the fireworks at Central Coast Stadium with three more points secured.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Newcastle Jets pulled off the result of the season at Adelaide earlier in the week, and they should be fired up for their New Year’s Day clash with the floundering Sydney FC.

The clueless Sky Blues, bereft of any tactical plan, and up against one of the league’s most talented central defenders in Mark Natta, will continue with their mindless short-passing slow build-up style in the first half, being picked off continuously by the home team and caught short at the back, where they are at their most vulnerable.

Newcastle will match anything Sydney throw at them and the score will reflect an even contest.

If there was any sort of form guide that could suggest a winner at Commbank Stadium on Sunday evening, it would say Macarthur FC to win easily.

Indeed, they were made to look like world-beaters on Christmas Eve by Sydney FC, while Western Sydney Wanderers toiled in Brisbane to come away with a point.

The Wanderers have wobbled lately, their second place coming under threat from a chasing pack, but this New Year’s Day fixture will cement that second spot as they cruise past a strangely subdued Bulls team.

Reigning premiers Melbourne City got back to winning ways against the Mariners but were not convincing, while Wellington Phoenix came away from a tough trip to Perth with a commendable draw.

Bozhidar Kraev will continue his good form, but poster-boy Oskar Zawada will be shackled by a tight-marking City defence, and the home team will struggle to find any space up front. The visitors are a class team, and when they are all purring, they are unstoppable. The premiers on course to retain that mantle with a third of the season gone.

Adelaide United and Perth Glory round off a great New Year’s weekend of A-League entertainment with a high-scoring encounter at Coopers Stadium. Questions about the Spanish pivot in Adelaide’s starting line-up will be answered when Juande and Isaias both start again, and this time they will be instrumental in a big performance from the home team.

Perth will be lively, their wide men Ryan Williams and Keegan Jelacic giving the home defence plenty to do, but the final ball will let them down.