A-League Preview: Wellington Phoenix vs Perth Glory, key stats, line-ups, odds, prediction

Joel Chianese of Perth Glory-Sam Sutton and Clayton Lewis of Wellington Phoenix-A League
Joel Chianese of Perth Glory-Sam Sutton and Clayton Lewis of Wellington Phoenix-A League | Photo Credit: IMAGO

Wellington Phoenix are back in action in the A-League this Sunday as they welcome fellow top-six hopefuls, Perth Glory, to Auckland.

Stadium: Eden Park (Auckland)

Key Statistics

Wellington Phoenix are now unbeaten in nine A-League games 

They are on a three-game winning run at home heading into this tie.

Perth Glory are unbeaten in five games, winning four and drawing one in that period.

But they have failed to win in their last six away games (W4, D2).

Wellington Phoenix

Western Phoenix will look to extend their winning run to three games this Sunday when they welcome their table neighbours to Eden Park.

The New Zealand outfit are sitting in seventh place, one place ahead of their visitors who are sitting in eighth, and with a two-point gap between them. The home team still have the chance of breaking into the playoffs and will be looking to end their rivals’ chances of breaking into the top six for this season.

Ufuk Talay’s side made it back-to-back wins thanks to a 2-1 win against Western Sydney Wanderers earlier in the week. They are a team in good form and are unbeaten in nine games heading into this fixture.

They will fancy their chances against their rivals but their poor head-to-head record in this tie means that result will be hanging in the balance. 

Ulises Davila is the only injury absentee for Wellington Phoenix, who have Reno Piscopo and Liam McGing available for this fixture after the duo recovered from the injuries that kept them on the side in recent times.

Possible line-ups 

Oliver Sail; James McGarry, Steven Taylor, Tim Payne, Louis Fenton; Alex Rufer, Clayton Lewis, Reno Piscopo, David Ball; Tomer Hemed, Ben Waine.

Perth Glory

After a frustrating draw with Macarthur in their last fixture that extended their winless run away to six games, Perth Glory will be desperate to pick up their first win from home since February. 

Although they can take courage in the fact that they enter this tie with four wins from their last five games even though four of those wins came at home. 

Richard Garcia’s side are sitting in eighth place and still have a slight chance of finishing within the playoffs places. But they must pick up maximum points here and hope that the other results go in their favour. 

Sebastian Langkamp could remain sidelined. Garcia can now select Christopher Oikonomidis and Osama Malik, who have recovered from injuries.

Possible line-ups 

Liam Reddy; Dane Ingham, Darryl Lachman, Jonathan Aspropotamitis, Nicholas Walsh; Christopher Oikonomidis, Neil Kilkenny, Diego Castro, Nicholas D’Agostino; Andy Keogh, Bruno Fornaroli.

Betting Odds

Wellington Phoenix : Draw : Perth Glory :: 1.80 : 4.20 :3.75

Wellington GoalPerth GoalBetting Odds
118.50
218.50
1011.00
2012.00
2212.00
1213.00

Prediction

Western Phoenix 3-2 Perth Glory