- Bentleigh Greens are unbeaten at home this NPL Victoria season (W3, D1).
- St Albans Saints have won 2 and lost 3 of their last 5 NPL Victoria matches.
Hosts’ head-to-head superiority to hold up at The Village
Bentleigh Greens SC have not had the best of form in their last two league matches, suffering back-to-back away defeats by a total score of 7-0. But the hosts have been solid at The Village Grounds this season, winning three and drawing one of their four NPL Victoria home matches.
The hosts are seventh in the NPL Victoria 2026 table with 14 points from 10 matches while St Albans Saints occupy 12th spot with 10 points from the same number of games. But both teams will have different motivations for this clash, with the home side hoping to continue their solid return to Victoria’s top tier, while Saints will want to keep the momentum going for the development of their talented youth players.
Striaght down the middle for Bentleigh Greens
Bentleigh Greens are the favourites at 1.73, with St Albans Saints listed at 4.0, but the double chance market is not a good option for this game as St Albans have 1 win and 1 loss in their last two NPL Victoria road matches.
Bentleigh’s style of play is very straight down the middle, relying on their players’ willingness to work for each other in a compact midfield block. They play with a number of men behind the ball at all times and make their money off the turnovers that their disciplined defensive play creates.
St Albans are a more free-flowing, transitional side that likes to play at a variety of tempos and will put their youth players into the fold as and when required. This could lead to gaps for Bentleigh to exploit at the back, but the home side's organisation and structure could also get tested by the speed of St Albans in transition.
Saints have shipped 10 goals in five NPL Victoria away games
The visitors have conceded two goals per away game on average this term, shipping 10 in five, and we’ll back them to leak a couple on Friday against a strong Bentleigh Greens side that has won the last two head-to-head meetings between these clubs, including a 2-0 win on the road in NPL Victoria 2023.
Given the respective home and away records of these two clubs, Bentleigh Greens to win looks the right call at 1.73. Both teams to score is also favoured at 1.67, which isn’t a surprise considering the attacking nature of both sides.
