📏 Form Guide

Wellington Phoenix

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Wellington Phoenix will be hoping for a better result after a 2-1 A-League loss in their previous game against Central Coast Mariners.

In that match, Wellington Phoenix managed 38% possession and 9 shots at goal with 4 on target. The only player to score for Wellington Phoenix was Ben Old (78'). On the other side, Central Coast Mariners got 23 shots at goal with 6 on target. Ángel Torres (61') and Mikael Doka (91') scored for Central Coast Mariners.

Over their preceding 6 fixtures, Giancarlo Italiano's Wellington Phoenix have managed to score a total of 7 times, with that being an average number of goals scored per match of 1.17.

A look at their previous results shows us that Wellington Phoenix:

• haven't been beaten in the league by Melbourne Victory in their last 2 games.
• have not registered a win against Melbourne Victory in their previous 5 league matches.
• are unbeaten in their previous 7 league matches at home.

Melbourne Victory

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Melbourne Victory will go into the match after a 2-1 A-League win over Melbourne City in their most recent match.

In that game, Melbourne Victory managed 47% possession and 22 attempts at goal with 5 on target. For Melbourne Victory, the goalscorers were Bruno Fornaroli (34') and Damien Da Silva (86'). On the other side, Melbourne City got 7 attempts at goal with 2 of them on target. Tolgay Arslan (4') scored for Melbourne City.

In as many as 5 of the previous 6 clashes featuring Melbourne Victory, a minimum of three goals have been hit. The overall average goals scored per match within that time is 3.17, with the number of goals averaged by Melbourne Victory working out to 1.67. That pattern isn’t assured to be sustained into this next game, however.

Their prior results show that Melbourne Victory:

• remain unbeaten by Wellington Phoenix when they've played them away from home in the last 2 league games.
• are undefeated in their previous 2 league matches away from home.

👥 Head to head

Looking at their past head-to-head clashes dating back to 09/02/2022 shows us that Wellington Phoenix have won 1 of these & Melbourne Victory 3, with the tally of drawn matches standing at 2.

In all, 16 goals were scored between the two sides during those clashes, with 6 from The Nix and 10 created by Victory. The average goals per game has been 2.67.

The last league match between the two was A-League match day 13 on 19/01/2024 when the final score was Wellington Phoenix 1-1 Melbourne Victory.

On that occasion, Wellington Phoenix had 37% possession and 10 attempts at goal with 3 of them on target. The scorer was Alex Rufer (95').

On the other side, Melbourne Victory got 19 attempts at goal with 6 on target. Connor Chapman (79') was the scorer.

The match was refereed by Daniel Elder.

📰 Team News: Wellington Phoenix

Isaac Hughes (Hamstring injury) and Oskar Zawada (Muscle contusion) are not available for Wellington Phoenix boss Giancarlo Italiano.

🗞️ Team News: Melbourne Victory

Thanks to a completely healthy squad to pick from, the Melbourne Victory manager Tony Popović has no fitness worries whatsoever before this clash. The players ineligible for this match because of suspension are Jordi Valadon, Ryan Teague and Nishan Velupillay.

🧠 Prediction

We’re envisaging that Wellington Phoenix will have their work cut out to breach the defence of this Melbourne Victory outfit who we reckon should manage to get a goal of their own in a winning performance.

We’re therefore tipping a good battle with a 0-1 victory for Melbourne Victory when the referee blows for full-time.

Will be interesting to see how this one goes.

Our expert partners are tipping under 3.5 goals for this match. Check out their VIP predictions here.

Peter Guest, 06:09 12/04/2024