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Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory: A-League live scores, blog

10th January, 2018
Start time: 5:35pm (AEDT)
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Online: Live, Foxtel app
Betting: Victory $1.90, Phoenix $3.80, draw $3.80

Wellington Phoenix (squad)
1.Lewis ITALIANO (Gk), 2.Daniel MULLEN, 3.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.Goran PARACKI, 6. Dylan FOX, 7.Nathan BURNS, 8.Matija LJUJIC, 9.Andrija KALUDJEROVIC, 10.Michael MCGLINCHEY, 12.Adam PARKHOUSE, 13.Marco ROSSI, 14.Alex RUFER, 18.Sarpreet SINGH, 19.Tom DOYLE, 21. Roy KRISHNA, 22.Andrew DURANTE, 23.Matthew RIDENTON, 30.Keegan SMITH (Gk)

Melbourne Victory (squad)
1.Matt ACTON (Gk), 2.Jason GERIA, 3.Dino DJULBIC, 4.Rhys WILLIAMS, 5.Mark MILLIGAN, 6.Leigh BROXHAM, 8.Besart BERISHA, 9.Kosta BARBAROUSES, 10.James TROISI, 16.Josh HOPE, 18.Matias SANCHEZ, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (Gk), 22.Stefan NIGRO, 23.Jai INGHAM, 24.Terry ANTONIS, 31.Christian THEOHAROUS, 41.Leroy GEORGE
Andrija Kaluderovic of the Phoenix. (AAP Image/Craig Golding)
Expert
10th January, 2018
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The Wellington Phoenix are cemented to the bottom of the A-League table and will need to turn things around when they return home against the Melbourne Victory. Join The Roar for live scores from 5:35pm (AEDT).

The New Zealand-based club have been struggling this season. From 14 games, they have just a single victory to go with four draws, leaving them on seven competition points and at the bottom of the table.

They sit six points behind the ninth-placed Brisbane Roar and another four our of the race for the top six with 12 rounds to go. While there is still plenty of time to turn things around, things are starting to get desperate.

For a club like Wellington, where travel can be such a big issue, winning games of football at home is a must and if they are going to build any sort of run over the back half of the season, they must start building some momentum here.

After a 4-1 smashing from Sydney FC in Round 12, there have been signs of life for the Phoenix in the last two rounds. They first drew 0-0 with the Central Coast Mariners, their defence looking better than it has all year.

A 2-1 loss to Melbourne City last week wasn’t the ideal result, but given the noticable differences between the two sides so far this year, the Phoneix did better than expected.

Victory, who are coming off their run to the grand final last year have been inconsistent at best during 2017-18.

They currently sit in fifth position on 20 points with five wins and five draws from their 14 games. Their inability to close games out with an attack misfiring has been frustrating, yet, the quality of the side suggests they will get it done as we run to the finals.

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Like the Phoenix, they have shown better signs in the last few weeks. A victory over cross-town rivals Melbourne City and another over the second-placed Newcastle Jets was followed by another frustrating draw with the Central Coast last week.

It’s those draws which must be stopped and make you wonder if they will really be able to run away with this match or not.

Prediction
While the Victory have been far from dominant, they have started to hit their stride in the last three weeks and this could be a belting, given how poor the Phoenix have been.

Victory 3 – Phoenix 1.

Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from 5:35pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments throughout the course of the coverage.

Preview written by Scott Pryde.

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