Del Pierro Return No Influence On Punters

Alessandro Del Pierro’s return for Sydney FC has had little influence on punters who have piled onto Melbourne Victory for this weekend’s head-to-head at Allianz Stadium.

Del Pierro sat out Sydney’s 7-2 defeat against Central Coast with a hamstring problem but is expected to be ready to take his place for the Sky Blues on Saturday.

Leading Australian bookmaker, sportsbet.com.au report the Victory have firmed from $3.30 into $3.10 while Sydney FC have eased from $2.00 out to $2.20.

“The weight of money in head-to-head betting has been on the Victory to win in Sydney but we’ve also seen a few cheeky wagers on Melbourne winning 5-0 and 5-1 – no doubt they’re Victory supporters still enjoying what the Mariners did to Sydney FC last weekend and are hoping for more of the same,” said spokesman Ben Hawes.

Del Pierro returned to training on Thursday and says the team must put last week’s heavy loss behind them: “It’s a really bad loss for us. We are really disappointed about what’s happened. But Saturday we have another match.

“If we think too much about last Saturday, maybe we go on the field with some fear or something and it’s not positive.”

Sydney will need to improve quickly as they host a Victory side that found its attacking spark in the 3-2 victory against Wellington on Monday.

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