Preview: Macarthur vs. Central Coast Mariners - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts currently sit just two places and points below their opponents and will be looking to follow up on their recent win.

Match preview

Macarthur have had a strong start to this campaign, picking up five victories and two draws in their opening 11 fixtures with the latest win happening on Sunday.

Dwight Yorke's men were able to secure a 2-0 victory against Newcastle Jets with Alhassan Toure and Ulises Davila scoring important second-half goals.

It provided an instant response to the defeat that they suffered against Western Sydney Wanderers in the game prior to that, and also kept their strong home record intact.

Macarthur are yet to lose at Campbelltown Sports Stadium this season, which should provide them plenty of momentum heading into Friday's fixture.

The Bulls have the opportunity to overtake their opponents with a win in the upcoming match, which would progress the club well.

However, the visitors currently sit second in the table at the moment and will be aiming to place pressure on the league leaders rather than slipping down.

Despite the fact that Central Coast Mariners have been performing well throughout this season, playing away from home has proven to be difficult.

The Coasties have won just a single match on the road so far, picking up a draw and a defeat in their other two matches.

While they lost their most recent away match, Central Coast Mariners do head into this one on the back of two consecutive victories which will provide belief to the team.

This is especially the case from an attacking perspective as no team in the A-League has scored more goals than them at this stage.

Macarthur Australian A-League form:

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Central Coast Mariners Australian A-League form:

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Team News

Coming off the back of a 2-0 victory there is little reason for Yorke to tinker too much with his starting lineup as he looks for consistency in his squad.

Bachana Arabuli may not have got on the scoresheet in that match, but he has been leading the line alone recently, which could continue here.

Even though the visitors won their most recent game 4-0, none of the goals were scored by their offensive players, with two of them being own goals.

That is something they will be wanting to change, with Jason Cummings likely to be the man leading the line for Central Coast Mariners here.

Macarthur possible starting lineup:

Kurto; Vujica, Aspropotamitis, Uskok, Millar; M'Mombwa, Hollman, Toure, Davila, Noone; Arabuli

Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:

Vukovic; Roux, Triantis, Kaltak, Farrell; Nkololo, Nisbet, Steele, Kuol; Tulio, Cummings

We say: Macarthur 1-2 Central Coast Mariners

Both of these teams are pushing at the top level of the A-League right now and are performing with confidence and quality which should create an intriguing game.

Even though Macarthur won their most recent match, it is the visitors who bring the attacking qualities and should be the favourites here.

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