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A-League finals preview: Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne City

30th April, 2015
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The Wellington Phoenix take on Sydney FC at Allianz. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)
Roar Guru
30th April, 2015
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1115 Reads

The A-League has reached the business end for this season, and it’s sink or swim as the Wellington Phoenix host Melbourne City at Westpac Stadium.

It’s sudden death for Wellington and Melbourne in their elimination final clash at Westpac Stadium. Neither side will be all that confident in their form in the lead up to the finals series, with both clubs recording just one win in their last five matches.

These two teams clashed just three weeks ago in Melbourne – the result there being a 0-0 stalemate. Let’s hope for the fans and the players alike that this one is considerably more entertaining.

The Phoenix started brightly in their 2014/15 campaign, with the New Zealanders sitting atop the heap at a number of points this campaign owing largely to the electric form of their top goal scorer and talisman Nathan Burns, who has netted an impressive 13 goals during the season.

As Burns’ personal form has become less meteoric, as has that of the Phoenix. The striker has not found the net since a Round 22 victory over the Brisbane Roar.

New Zealand’s only A-League franchise slipped to a fourth place finish at the conclusion of the regular season – something they would not have been overly proud of had they been offered it earlier in the campaign. The Phoenix have not featured in the finals since 2012 and their record at the business end of the competition is less than desirable: won two, lost two and drawn two.

The visitors – Melbourne City – line up in just their second finals series match in their short history, The first coming in the form of a 3-0 loss to Perth Glory in 2012.

City will be extremely underwhelmed by their form in the run-in to the finals – coming off a 4-1 loss to Adelaide United and a 3-1 loss to Perth Glory in their previous two fixtures.

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They will be relying largely on their midfield general and top scorer Aaron Mooy who has netted seven times this campaign from the centre of the park – this speaks volumes about City’s lack of forward prowess this season.

Adding to their statistical shortcomings, the visitors have won a lacklustre one of their last eleven fixtures against their elimination final opponents.

There are a few key match-ups which could well decide what should be a closely fought encounter.

Firstly, Nathan Burns facing up against City captain Patrick Kisnorbo. If Burns can recapture even an ounce of his early-season form he could run riot against City – that is especially if Melbourne’s experienced centre back and skipper Kisnorbo is off his game.

Down the other end, Josh Kennedy shapes up as an intimidating figure in front of goal for the visitors. He will face up against Phoenix’s experienced captain Andrew Durante.

In the middle of the park, it will be Mooy against Wellington midfielder Roly Bonevacia. The Dutchman has been in fine form this campaign, netting four and assisting six times in an impressive first season in the A-League.

The bookies have Wellington backed as strong favourites for this one – sitting at a slender $1.95 to progress through to week two of the finals series and face either Melbourne Victory or Sydney FC who will no doubt be watching this clash closely.

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Meanwhile, City’s odds sit at a reasonably good value $3.80.

Prediction: Wellington Phoenix 2-0 Melbourne City

Wellington have been the better team throughout the entirety of the season, and boast superior records in both attack and defence. Barring some severe finals nerves or just a failure to show up they should easily record a victory and send Melbourne City back home with their season over.

Squads:

Wellington Phoenix:
Kwabena Appiah, Andrew Blake, Roly Bonevacia, Michael Boxall, Tyler Boyd, Josh Brindell-South, Nathan Burns, Kenny Cunningham, Tom Doyle, Andrew Durante, Louis Fenton, Joel Griffiths, Jason Hicks, Lewis Italiano, Roy Krishna, Vince Lia, Michael McGlinchey, Glen Moss, Manny Muscat, Matthew Ridenton, Albert Riera, Alex Rodriguez, Alex Rufer, Oliver Sail, Ben Sigmund, Joel Stevens.

Melbourne City:
Safuwan Baharudin, James Brown, Connor Chapman, Jack Clisby, Damien Duff, Mate Dugandzic, Ben Garuccio, Jonatan Germano, Jason Hoffman, Kew Jaliens, Josh Kennedy, Patrick Kisnorbo, Robert Koren, Marc Marino, Stefan Mauk, Jacob Melling, Liam Miller, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Murdocca, Harry Novillo, Erik Paartalu, Iain Ramsay, Andrew Redmayne, Paulo Retre, Marko Stevanja, Nicholas Symeoy, Tando Velaphi, Rob Wielaert, David Williams, Stefan Zinni.

Join The Roar for live scores and participation in our live blog for this hugely-anticipated A-League elimination final clash between Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne City from 5:00PM (AEST) on Sunday.

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