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Machida Zelvia will host Melbourne City at the Machida Stadium on Tuesday in the fourth round of the league phase of the 2025-26 AFC Champions League campaign. The hosts will be hoping to continue their unbeaten continental form this midweek and push higher up the table.Zelvia recorded their first-ever continental win last time out as they secured a comfortable 2-0 victory away to Chinese outfit Shanghai Port in the last round after drawing their previous two games against South Korean side FC Seoul and Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta’zim. The Japanese side are appearing in a continental competition for the first time in their history after qualifying in their debut top-flight season and will hope to continue their fairytale run this midweek.Melbourne, on the other hand, are appearing in the competition for the third time in their history but have failed to get past the group stages in their previous two appearances and will be hoping to get a result on Tuesday to better their chances of qualifying to the next stage.The Australian giants lost to Vissel Kobe and Sanfrecce Hiroshima in their opening two games before earning all three points via a late comeback in a 2-1 win against Thai side Buriram United last time out.Machida Zelvia vs Melbourne City Head-to-Head and Key NumbersTuesday's match will mark the first-ever meeting between these two sides.The visitors are winless in four meetings against Japanese sides, drawing two and losing the other two.Machida Zelvia have the joint best defensive record in the AFC Champions League Elite this season, having conceded only one goal after three games played.Neither team have ever won a continental title in their history.Machida Zelvia vs Melbourne City PredictionMachida Z will consider themselves favorites to get a win thanks to their home advantage and much better defensive record, but will need to be at their best to get a comfortable win.City will fancy their chances of getting a result when they travel to Japan, but will have their work cut out for them to avoid defeat. We expect the home side to secure a narrow win.Prediction: Machida Zelvia 1-0 Melbourne CityMachida Zelvia vs Melbourne City Betting TipsTip 1 - Result: Machida Zelvia to winTip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Seven of the visitors’ last nine games have featured fewer than 2.5 goals)Tip 3 - Both teams to score: No (Both sides have found the back of the net in just one of the hosts' last six games)
