Western Sydney Wanderers vs Wellington Phoenix: A-League live scores, blog

Match result:

It’s another poor night for the Wellington Phoenix, thumped 4-0 buy the Western Sydney Wanderers at ANZ Stadium.

Final score
Western Sydney Wanderers 4
Wellington Phoenix 0

Match preview:

It has almost been a month since these two sides met, playing in Round 16’s Hyundai A-League fixture at Westpac Stadium.

The two sides meet again, this time at ANZ Stadium as the Western Sydney Wanderers look to build on last week’s victory while the Wellington Phoenix recover from a humiliating defeat to the champions Sydney FC.

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Last match
Since that clash, the Wanderers have had mixed results. Back-to-back losses to Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory saw the Wanderers temporarily drop out of the top six, before a win against the Mariners last Sunday got things back on track for Finals Series qualification.

Goals from Joshua Sotirio and Oriol Riera capped off an edgy performance as they snuck into the top six.

Wellington paid for their individual mistakes against league leaders Sydney FC as they were humbled 4-0 at Allianz Stadium last week.

No-one was on the same wavelength for Wellington as their back three, turned back five simply couldn’t handle the pressure cooker that is Fortress Allianz.

Squad news
Western Sydney welcome back midfielders Chris Herd and Keanu Baccus who was sidelined with a suspension. The Wanderers struggled to hold onto their lead against the Central Coast mostly due to tired legs in midfield. Baccus and Herd are welcome replacements.

Meanwhile Spanish attacker Alvaro Cejudo is unavailable due to a leg injury.

There are an abundance of names being injected into the Wellington squad. Livewire attackers Andrija Kaludjerovic and Roy Krishna return from injury to finally add some gall to Wellington’s front third that already includes Nathan Burns.

However after last weeks dismal defensive performance, heads are rolling with Italian defender Marco Rossi omitted from the squad.

Tactics
With the arrival of fresh firepower for Wellington we’ll see a front three of Burns and Krishna on the wings with Kaludjerovic at No.9 and Michael McGlinchey in behind.

Wellington to their credit are extremely effective on the counter-attack which is a vulnerability of the Western Sydney defence.

The Wanderers don’t have the fastest central defenders so Krishna and Burns runs in behind will be imperative to their success.

However, Wellington’s defence is a basket case and the Wanderers have failed to score against Wellington only once in the last three years.

Oriol Riera is in steady form with two goals in his last two matches but that was partly due to the tireless work of fellow Spaniard Raul Llorente on the left.

His cross set up Riera for the winner on the Coast and had an immense amount of space to make an impact. Wellington will need to close down the flanks for both full-backs and wingers if they stand a chance.

Prediction
Western Sydney Wanderers 2-3 Wellington Phoenix