Western Sydney Wanderers vs Macarthur FC Tips & Predictions - Wanderers to secure victory at home

It's a crucial clash for both teams as they continue their push for a spot in the top six, but Macarthur have been hit with a big blow, with star striker Valere Germain suspended for this encounter. Macarthur may have beaten the Wanderers 3-2 on New Year's Day in their most-recent encounter, but Jed Drew and Ariath Piol - who combined for those three goals - have since moved on overseas. All of a sudden Macarthur appear to be lacking firepower up front for this game, so backing the Wanderers to claim a vital three points.

These two teams have split their last four meetings at two wins apiece, with Macarthur prevailing 3-2 on New Year's Day in the last clash.

The Wanderers just haven't been able to generate any momentum this season, winning back-to-back matches just once with a 6-4-6 record across their 16 outings.

As such, they head into this contest down in eighth spot on the ladder - but they are just three points adrift of fifth-placed Macarthur, so this shapes as a pivotal match.

Western Sydney would be rueing their late collapse in the derby last week after they led Sydney FC 3-1 in the 87th minute only to draw 3-3.

Dylan Scicluna and Jeong Tae-Wook remain on the sidelines with injury.

Macarthur have also been inconsistent throughout the season, registering a 7-4-6 record and winning just two of their last six matches.

Equipped with one of the most lethal frontlines in the competition at the beginning of the season, Macarthur have seen multiple attacking players leave in the recent transfer window, while the loss of Germain for this game is a big blow.

Mile Sterjovski's side come into this encounter winless in their last two, going down 2-1 to Auckland before last week's 2-2 draw with Western United.

As mentioned, Germain is out suspended for his actions last week against Western, but Liam Rose has been included to make his return from injury.