A-League Week 17 Odds Preview: Sydney FC vs. Melbourne Highlights Betting Slate

The match the A-League has been waiting for will be staged on Australia Day in Melbourne, when unbeaten Sydney FC take their quest for invincibility on the road to Etihad Stadium, where they face second-place Melbourne Victory.

Victory looked the team more likely to win when the pair last met at the start of November, but Sydney escaped with all three points thanks to two second-half goals from David Carney.

After that match, Victory went on a nine-match unbeaten streak to close within five points of Sydney with a match in hand, but two upset losses in the space of five days threaten to derail their charge.

It means a win here for Sydney could put them 11 points clear with 10 matches remaining and in an almighty position when it comes to claiming the Premiers Plate.

The pressure is firmly back on Victory to get things back on track, and they go into this match as $2.40 (AUD) favourites, according to AustralianGambling.com.au, to inflict Sydney's first loss of the season.

The Sky Blues are $2.75 to grab their first win away to Victory since they won this fixture 5-0 three years ago, while the draw is at $3.50.

That is the marquee fixture of an interesting A-League round, with the market undecided on four of the five matches.

The only odds-on favourites for the round are Melbourne City, who travel to Coffs Harbour to play the Newcastle Jets.

Coffs Harbour is the site of football's greatest-ever thrashing, Australia's 31-0 win over American Samoa in 2001, the famous match in which Archie Thompson scored a world-record 13 goals.

There is no expectation of a similar scoreline again, but City, who got back onto the winner's list with a 2-1 win over the Central Coast Mariners on January 19, are $1.83 to collect back-to-back successes for the first time since the first two matches of the season.

The Jets were ordinary last week against the Western Sydney Wanderers and go into this as $4 outsiders despite having lost just two of eight home games this season, while the draw is $3.75.

Perth Glory have suddenly found form and are unbeaten in their past five. They travel to Gosford to take on the Mariners on Saturday afternoon as $2.10 favourites, with the bottom-placed Mariners at $3.25 and the draw at $3.65.

A Perth win could get them on the cusp of the top four, with the Brisbane Roar needing to beat the Wanderers on Saturday night to keep them at bay.

The Roar, who snapped a three-match losing streak with a win over Wellington Phoenix last week, are $2.25 favourites to win that match. The Wanderers collected win number three for the season against Newcastle last week and are $3 to win again, while the draw, the result the first two times these teams met this season, is a $3.50 chance.

The round finishes off Sunday in Adelaide with the Reds looking to get clear of the bottom of the table when they host the Phoenix.

A quirk in the fixture list means this is the third time these two have played in the space of seven weeks, with Adelaide winning their match 2-0 in December and their New Year's Day clash in Wellington ending in a 0-0 draw.

The oddsmakers have the Reds as $2.10 favourite, with the Phoenix at $3.25 and the draw at $3.50.