Central Coast Mariners vs Brisbane Roar Tips & Prediction - Mariners backed for NYE upset in Gosford

It's set to be another entertaining New Year's Eve showdown in Gosford and both teams will be hoping for some fireworks on the pitch to finish the year on a high note. Central Coast are anchored to the bottom of the ladder after nine rounds, but they should feel this is a good opportunity for an upset. Brisbane certainly deserve credit for their improvement under Michael Valkanis so far this term, with the side sitting pretty in third spot on the ladder. However, it's my belief that the Roar have overachieved in the bulk of their games this season - they don't do much with the ball and they are just proving tough to break down at the back. That sort of formula tends to fade as the season goes on with a young group of inexperienced players.

Which brings me back to liking a Mariners upset here. They've won three of the last four A-League meetings between the teams, while Brisbane have just one win on the road this season. It's New Year's Eve, there should be a solid crowd backing Central Coast and stranger things have certainly happened. Will also have a small stake on Arthur De Lima to find the back of the net - the 18-year-old striker has already scored twice in two games against Brisbane in 2025 and was a former academy product at the Roar, so he clearly lifts for this fixture.

Central Coast won two of their opening four games over Newcastle and Perth, but they've hit a rough patch and head into this contest having lost four of their last five outings.

To be fair, the Mariners ran into some top tier sides, holding reigning premiers Melbourne City to a draw before suffering one-goal defeats to top two sides Sydney and Auckland.

However, the Mariners struggled in their most-recent outing before Christmas, going down 3-1 to Wellington across the ditch.

Valkanis has instilled some impressive defensive resilience into the Roar - they've conceded just five goals in their nine games and two of those came via the penalty spot in their Round 9 defeat to Macarthur.

However, Brisbane will need to improve their attack if they are to seriously challenge for the premiership or even remain in the top six - none of their players rank in the top 10 for goals, assists, chances created, completed passes or completed crosses.

The Roar were extremely unlucky to fall to Macarthur in their aforementioned most-recent clash after initially taking the lead through Matthew Dench. Brisbane conceded two penalties in the space of seven minutes in the second half to go down 2-1, leaking their first goals in over 400 minutes of football.