Melbourne City vs Newcastle Jets Tips & Predictions - City target third consecutive win

After navigating a brutal injury period, City are back to some of their best football and I'm backing them to secure a third win on the bounce here. The Jets are actually unbeaten in their last six matches and playing some good football themselves, but they have a short turnaround from their 1-1 draw with Auckland on Sunday and they would have been disappointed not to have claimed all three points after missing a penalty and some other clear-cut chances.

Those two missed points on offer potentially ended Newcastle's season after a mini-resurgence and it wouldn't surprise me if they turned up flat for this one. City's last six wins have been accompanied by a clean sheet and I'm predicting another shut-out for the hosts here.

City are unbeaten in the last seven meetings between the teams, winning five of those fixtures - including a 1-0 victory in the most-recent encounter back in Round 1, with Marco Tilio scoring the winner after just two minutes.

After losing three straight games from late January to early February, City have regained their best form and head into this contest unbeaten in their last four outings.

City have won three of those four games, which has lifted them into third spot on the ladder with a game in hand - meaning if they emerge triumphant in this clash, they will leapfrog Western United into second.

Defence has been the foundation for City's success - they have conceded the least amount of goals in the competition (17), with their last six wins coming to nil, including a comfortable 2-0 victory over Macarthur FC this past weekend as Max Caputo scored a brace.

Yonatan Cohen and Steven Urgarkovic returned off the bench for City last week, meaning they are slowly getting back to full strength. James Jeggo remains in doubt for this encounter.

It's been a great little resurgence for the Jets, who have still given themselves a mathematical chance of making the finals after going unbeaten in their last six matches.

However, you know when you start talking 'mathematical chance' that you're in trouble. Newcastle have. almost certainly left their run too late after registering good wins over Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory.

The Jets were aiming to record four wins on the trot for the first time since 2009 when they squared off against league leaders Auckland on Sunday, but a missed penalty from Kosta Grozos cost them a huge chance to come away with the win after Eli Adams had earlier scored a screamer from outside the box.

Ultimately, Newcastle couldn't find the winning streak and settled for a 1-1 draw.

Aleksandar Susnjar and Dane Ingham both returned from injury in the draw with Auckland, but Ben Gibson remains on the sidelines.