Central Coast Mariners play host to Brisbane Roar on Wednesday with the opportunity to move to the top of the A-League standings.
Meanwhile, the visitors, who have several games in hand, can progress up to mid-table if they can extend their winning streak to three matches.
Match preview
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Despite their storming start to the season, the Mariners have been reeled in by the chasing pack after a run of one victory from seven fixtures.
Although four of those games have ended in draws, Alen Stajcic will be disappointed with the lack of consistency since the middle of March.
To make matters worse, the Mariners gave up a two-lead against rivals Sydney FC on Saturday, squandering the opportunity to move six points ahead of the fourth-placed team.
While Matt Simon netted his eighth goal of the campaign during that encounter, the veteran has scored just twice in his last six appearances.
The Mariners have now also gone seven fixtures without keeping a clean sheet, and a resurgent Brisbane Roar will believe that they can heap further misery on their hosts.
Although their last two victories have come by a 2-1 scoreline, they were recorded having previously not prevailed in any A-League contest since February 6.
Question marks naturally emerged over Warren Moon's future in the dugout, but Brisbane are currently one of four teams who have remained undefeated in their last four outings.
Having claimed seven points from their most recent three fixtures on the road, Brisbane possess the best away record in the division based on a points-per-game ratio.
Riku Danzaki has been the star of the show since the start of April, scoring in three successive outings having previously gone seven matches without finding the back of the net.
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Team News
Ruon Tongyik is in line to return to the Mariners' starting lineup after serving a one-match suspension for five yellow cards.
Daniel Hall is expected to drop out of the team, but Stajcic could keep faith with the rest of the side which started the last fixture.
Roar will be forced into at least one alteration courtesy of Corey Brown collecting his fifth caution of the season against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Jack Hingert could be used at right wing-back, allowing Josh Brindell-South to deputise for Brown on the opposite flank.
Kai Trewin is an alternative to Tom Aldred, who was withdrawn during the first half of the last fixture on April 16.
Central Coast Mariners possible starting lineup:
Birighitti; Nigro, Tongyik, Rowles, Clisby; Nisbet, Stensness, Bozanic, De Silva; Urena, Simon
Brisbane Roar possible starting lineup:
Young; Neville, Aldred, Gillesphey; Hingert, O'Shea, Akbari, Brindell-South; Danzaki, Wenzel-Halls, Champness
We say: Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Brisbane Roar
Despite the difference in league positions, we can see nothing but a evenly-matched game playing out on Wednesday.
With the visitors producing the better recent form, they are playing with enough confidence to earn a share of the spoils from this contest.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Brisbane Roar win with a probability of 37.67%. A win for Central Coast Mariners had a probability of 36.76% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brisbane Roar win was 0-1 with a probability of 8.88%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.37%) and 0-2 (6.14%). The likeliest Central Coast Mariners win was 1-0 (8.75%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.1%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Brisbane Roar would win this match.
