AAMI Park will play host to Saturday's A-League game between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. The game kicks off at 7:30 pm with Melbourne City heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Melbourne City vs. Melbourne Victory game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Saturday May 31, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Where: AAMI Park

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Odds

Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Preview

Melbourne City

This is not the Melbourne City you became accustomed to dominating the league and collecting silverware for fun.

Their cup run came to an early end at the hands of Perth Glory and an injury crisis forced coach Aurelio Vidmar to turn to the club’s academy to continue their strong start to the season.

While it wasn’t always pretty they held down the fort well barring a three game losing streak in January.

As the calendar moved further in to 2025, their star players began to return to the fold which laid the foundations for a late season surge up the ladder.

Since Valentine’s Day, City took 24 of a possible 33 points, losing just once on that run and surged up the ladder taking advantage of their rivals slipping up to finish the season in second place.

That earned them a bye in the first week of the finals before booking a local derby against Western United.

In what was supposed to be a hard fought encounter, City dominated the first leg and set up an almost unassailable 3-0 aggregate lead heading into the second match, which they drew 1-1.

Now they have a chance to end a two year silverware drought and doing so over their local rivals will no doubt make this trophy the sweetest… if they can finish the job.

Melbourne Victory

12 months after their Grand Final loss in Gosford and one thing remains very true about Melbourne Victory, taking this line from last year’s preview.

“Getting a true read on Melbourne Victory is almost impossible, at times they look like a truly elite team and at others, completely bereft of an identity.”

That has very much been the case once again in A-League season 2024/25 as the Victory have ridden the ups and downs of a football club since their Australia Cup run began in July.

Under new coach Patrick Kisnorbo, things began brightly making the cup final in September before hitting the ground running in the league campaign.

It was far from a happy Christmas though with Kisnorbo departing the club ahead of their December derby against City with assistant Arthur Diles taking over.

The club picked up just three points from his first six matches in charge and the concerns were that a promising start to the season would come undone due to the departure of the manager.

However a light switch went on in a 2-0 win over Sydney FC at AAMI Park and the Victory finished the season strongly, pulling away from the pack and earning a fifth place finish.

They did it the hard way in the finals, first knocking out Western Sydney in Parramatta 2-1 before a tough two legged tussle with the premiers Auckland FC.

After dropping the first leg at home, they had to go to Auckland and overturn that deficit, which they did with two second half goals to book an eighth A-League Grand Final appearance.

Best Bets

Some may say that backing the draw is the cowards way out, but between the history of this big game and the way this rivalry has gone, it sure seems like we are going to need more than 90 minutes to separate this clubs.

For starters, seven of the 19 A-League deciders in history have gone to extra time, including four of the last eight.

If that was not enough, the Elimination Final between City and Victory last season was decided on penalties and all up five of the last seven have been draws after 90 minutes.

It’s up for debate who an extended match will suit but given the history, the draw seems like the best option.

However it would not be fitting to do a Grand Final preview without tipping a winner so here goes.

It has been over two years since City last won a derby over Victory, which came on April 5, 2023 in the infamous postponed match from Christmas the year before.

Not to mention their gritty style of football seems perfectly suited to an atmosphere such as this one and they have history stifling City’s star studded set of attackers.

Despite City finishing five points better on the ladder, it is tough to justify their favouritism in the market and Victory emerging as the winners might be the best play on offer.

As for goalscorers, one name stands out in the City side and it is Marco Tilio who would love to cap his loan spell at the club with a goal and a title.

He has two in his last six matches and did score in the last meeting between these teams.

On the Victory side, the temptation is to go and pick Daniel Arzarni after his starring role in the finals so far, but there is a better play on offer.

Firebrand midfielder Zinedine Machach has two goals from his last three starts including the opener last week in Auckland and does have a habit of popping up in the club’s biggest moments.

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Melbourne City vs Melbourne Victory Tip