It was a fairly solid round of tipping across the board last week, with the roar of the crowd maintaining a three point lead at the top of the table from yours truly.

Round 20 actually looks as straight forward as they come in the A-League, with the Wanderers, Adelaide, Melbourne City and Central Coast all likely to enter their matches with firm favouritism.

Elsewhere, Wellington host Sydney FC in what looms as an absolute barnstormer and Western United will play for the three points that would keep them in the running against Victory in Melbourne.

Good luck with your tips for the round and be sure to enter them in the sheet below to have a say in the wise and mostly accurate, voice of the people. Here is the way the panel sees all the Round 20 action unfolding.

Mike Tuckerman

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

Despite a heroic effort to claw themselves back into finals contention, a couple of disappointing results mean the season has pretty much passed Perth Glory by. Marko Rudan’s men keep on grinding out wins, and while they’re rarely the best of travellers, they have too much to play for to let the chance of another victory slip – even without the suspended Marcelo.

The Central Coast Mariners are looking a bit wobbly in the run home, and they were second-best in their 2-0 defeat to the Wanderers last weekend. Macarthur weren’t much better in only just scraping past Brisbane Roar, and while there should be plenty of intensity from both sides, I suspect it will be the home team that ends up with all three points.

Things haven’t quite clicked for Arthur Papas and the Newcastle Jets this season, and their stop-start season hit another hurdle when they went down to Wellington Phoenix last weekend. They’ll come up against an in-form Adelaide United brimming with confidence, and with the Reds battling for a top-two finish, they should have the quality to leave the Hunter with a win.

Wellington Phoenix will hope another big crowd turns out at Eden Park when they host a resurgent Sydney FC. Steve Corica and Ufuk Talay know each other well, and both will be keen to get one over each other after Wellington’s crazy win over the Sky Blues at Allianz Stadium earlier in the season. But with both sides having plenty to play for, I suspect they’ll cancel each other out in Auckland.

Melbourne City suffered a bruising defeat at the hands of Adelaide United last Friday, and they’ll be keen to bounce back against the lowly Brisbane Roar. The latter were a bit unlucky not to nick a point off Macarthur, but it should be the hosts who canter home in this one.

What a season it’s been for Melbourne Victory – and not in a good way. They went down in a hard-fought Big Blue last weekend, and while they won’t view Western United as any genuine kind of rival, they’ll still want to beat the defending champs.

John Aloisi’s team have had a season to forget, but I suspect they’ll jag an upset win over their similarly struggling neighbours.

Stuart Thomas

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

Keeping things simple appears to have worked for me across recent weeks and I shall do so again. Perth’s homecoming has promise but can they hold off a top-four bound Wanderers? Probably not.

Central Coast and Macarthur is a tricky one to pick and the Coasties need it badly, else their top six aspirations will continue to slide. Macarthur needs the points to stay in contention. Who knows, probably the Mariners at home if they can avoid red cards.

Adelaide are on something on a roll and belted City last week. Can the Jets hold them in Newcastle? Logic says no and the Reds should continue their climb up the ladder.

Wellington will beat Sydney FC to take another step towards securing their place in the finals and Melbourne City will bounce back in style against what could now be a somewhat disinterested Brisbane Roar.

The round ends with what will be a pointless clash should Western United not win it. For that reason, it appears likely that Victory will suffer its eleventh loss for the season.

Blayne Treadgold

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

Perth return to Perth Oval this week and will hope to regain that winning, home form. It’s the hope that will kill Perth fans and the Wanderers will take all three. The Mariners simply have to bounce back after some disappointing weeks. They’ll get over the line against the hit and miss Macarthur.

Newcastle came back to earth last week in New Zealand. Adelaide will continue the pain and roll on in this one. Wellington are due some good home form. Zawada is leading the line beautifully as one of the league’s best imports. It looks like a stalled challenge from Sydney in Round 20.

Melbourne City will need to bounce back against Brisbane. They’ll do so at home and frankly, they could do it with some vigour. The battle of the cellar dwellers is a hard one to pick – Victory’s up and down season will continue with the points likely to be shared.

Andrew Prentice

Draw, Central Coast, Adelaide, Wellington, City, United

Last week, a caller to Roy and HG’s “Bludging on the Blindside” radio program made mention of the number of red cards handed out in the current A League season, which equated to an average of one every three and a half games.

The caller felt this was something that should be adopted by all codes because it made picking a winner in games so much more unpredictable. Amen to that…Oh, hang on, you’re not looking for excuses, you’re looking for a winner here? Total lottery.

Perth couldn’t beat a hapless Western United last week but they were away from home and are worse travellers than a busload of American tourists wondering why there isn’t a Dennys they can have a pancake stack and bottomless coffee cup at on the Great Ocean Road.

The Wanderers were impressive in a spicy chop-fest against the Mariners and have reclaimed second position on the ladder, with Romain Amalfitano continuing his hot streak.

Perth haven’t won since Round 13, the Wanderers haven’t won three in a row all season. As HG would say, “make of that what you will.”

Tipping the Bulls is like trying to hit the bullseye at a rigged carnival sideshow. After looking cod-ordinary of late, they pulled a big win off in the 95th minute against a Roar team who were on the verge of their own mini revival.

The Mariners have as many players in the stands at Mudgee on red card suspensions as they do players on the Glen Willow pitch. But they usually enjoy their trip out west and will be smarting at the manner of their dropped points in the last two weeks.

The Bulls can’t keep relying on defenders to score their goals for them.

You want entertainment in your football diet? Can’t go wrong watching the Reds, who in the last month have come from 2-0 down to beat the reigning champs 3-2, have had a 4-4 draw with the Wanderers, and have beaten the ladder leaders 4-2.

That’s the kind of sexy football the Jets have promised to play and if this is the week they deliver on the, ahem, tease, then this game will be a cracker.

If Beka Mikeltadze is back for the Jets, they’ll give this a red-hot go. But the Reds are on the longest unbeaten streak in the A-League, and they don’t mind a visit to the cradle of Australia’s football nursery, and gateway to the country’s other renowned wine region.

The Phoenix take their game to Eden Park, a graveyard for Aussies team of a different code. Perhaps Wellington are hoping the hex will rub off on Sydney.

The Sky Blues have more to worry about than hexes; their form has never settled into anything that could be identified as consistent all season. Last week’s win over Victory was achieved with more stagger than swagger, and they’ll be missing Max Burgess after the flyer’s red card last week.

They have looked more defensively sound of late with Alex Wilkinson’s return to the starting XI, but will face in-form Oskar Zawada in Auckland.

The Polish-born striker has scored in eight of his last nine matches and has become a cult hero to the Yellow Fever. It could be shirts-off at 80 minutes on the South Island this Sunday.

Last time these teams met, critics were hailing a defensive masterclass from the Roar who kept the rampaging City attack mollified in a 0-0 draw. The following week they got spanked 4-0 by Newcastle and sacked their coach not long after. For their part, City restarted scoring for fun while keeping the back gate wide open for opposition sides to exploit if they felt like it. They are far and away the highest scorers in the league and face the lowest scorers on Sunday afternoon. Any other prediction but a City win seems absurd, but, see Point 1…

Noah Botic is the name on most Melbourne lips after his emergence in the last month as a young striker with a huge upside. Of course, I took him out of my A League fantasy team last week. Victory might have felt hard done by in last week’s loss to Sydney, but goals don’t come to teams who don’t shoot.

Jake Brimmer’s absence from a team who already have trouble going forward will not help. It’s a season the club and coach Tony Popovic will want to forget in a hurry, and a rare Monday night fixture might not cure any ills.

Texi Smith

Western Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle, Wellington, City, United

What a game to reintroduce Perth to their spiritual home. The Western Australians were so unlucky not to get something out of their game last weekend in Ballarat, while the Wanderers had lady luck on their side when the Mariners imploded at Commbank Stadium.

This is going to be an exciting encounter. The introduction of Milos Ninkovic will change the game just after half time, and what looks like a slow and ageing midfield will shine through with their class, Nicolas Milanovic poaching the only goal of the game with ten to play.

The A-League tipping mocks us panellists this season, as it often does, and to see Mariners on the back of a dismal defeat play Macarthur FC on the back of a last-minute winner is the stuff of nightmares.

Honestly, anything could happen. Pantomime villain Beni N’Kololo’s suspension will mean Marco Tulio returns to the team, and the Mariners will be in total control, Jason Cummings scoring twice in the first half, and Jacob Farrell smashing a third from a corner late in the game to underline their dominance.

Another un-tippable game takes place up the M1 as Newcastle Jets take on Adelaide United, the visitors fresh from spanking the reigning premiers last week.

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The Jets were so unlucky against Phoenix, and will make full use of the home advantage to get the fans onside early in the game.

Future Socceroos captain Daniel Stynes will be recalled to the line-up and lead Adelaide a merry dance, but it will be new Japanese sensation Manabu Saito who will give the home crowd much to cheer, his busy style and intelligent play the perfect outlet.

Adelaide will go close to leading at half time, and their imperious demeanour will keep the fans guessing, but a lovely move by Jaushua Sotirio up the right will tee up Brandon O’Neill for a rocket from 25 yards.

Jets will hang on until late on, surviving the introduction of the Nestory Irankunda, Beka Dartsmelia the man on the spot to sweep home a second and seal the points.

Wellington Phoenix in Auckland against Sydney FC. Flip your coin. The home team’s Yan Sasse is starting to show us his best, Oskar Zawada is scoring for fun and ex-Sydney man Kosta Barbarouses is always there to put one over on his former employees. Sydney have issues.

They lost their main man Max Burgess to a ridiculous red card last week and they will not be resting on the laurels of a lucky home win against cellar-dwellers Victory last weekend. As much as it pains me, the ‘home’ side look the goods.

For goodness’ sake, Sydney FC couldn’t beat Phoenix with two spare men last time, how on earth are they going to beat them on level terms? Phoenix to win this one and Barbarouses on the scoresheet to rub it in.

Sunday at AAMI Park sees premiers Melbourne City up against Brisbane Roar. Some brave team selections from Roar coach Nick Green has seen the undoubted talents of Jez Lofthouse and Henry Hore propelled into the starting line-up, and they were so unlucky to come away with nothing against the Bulls last time out.

City are smarting from their defeat in Adelaide, and will be back to their sparkling best, putting Roar to the sword in a comprehensive six-goal battering.

Western United, the unlikely form team of the A-League after notching two victories, come up against Melbourne Victory at AAMI Park in an unusual Monday night fixture.

Now that we’ve got Tongo Doumbia firing on all cylinders, Alessandro Diamante the X-factor off the bench, and Leo Lacroix back to his best, there should be no stopping John Aloisi’s team.

The unfettered set-piece wizardry of Neil Kilkenny will be on show as Melbourne Victory are given another lesson in finishing, Victory spurning several good positions in a fire-cracker of a first half.

Dylan Pierias will come off the bench to weave his sorcery on the wing to tee up Aleksandar Prijovic for the killer goal, Victory rooted to the bottom and gaining a head start in their quest for another wooden spoon.

Round 20	Mike	Stuart	Blayne	Andrew	Texi	The Crowd
PER vs WSW	WSW	WSW	WSW	DRAW	WSW	?
CCM vs MAC	CCM	CCM	CCM	CCM	CCM	?
NEW vs ADL	ADL	ADL	ADL	ADL	NEW	?
WEL vs SYD	DRAW	WEL	WEL	WEL	WEL	?
MCY vs BRI	MCY	MCY	MCY	MCY	MCY	?
MVC vs WUN	WUN	WUN	DRAW		WUN	?
Last week	4	4	2	2	2	4
New total	35	48	40	40	47	51