Thursday 27 February

Kickoff: 7pm (Local time), 7:30pm (AEDT), 9:30pm (NZDT)
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide

Thursday night football returns to the A-League with the Wellington Phoenix travelling to Adelaide to take on the Reds in a battle of two of the form teams of the competition. The match gives both sides a chance to test themselves against a potential finals opponent as they both battle to keep themselves in the hunt for a top six position on the ladder.

The Phoenix had been the best performing team since the start of the year before being thumped 5-0 by Melbourne Heart at home. They bounced back well last week though with a 4-1 away win over Central Coast after being down 1-0 at the halftime break. The Nix attacking trio of Stein Huysegems, Carlos Hernandez and Kenny Cunningham have been in red hot form lately, both scoring and setting up chances for each other as the Nix attack has finally come alive.

Adelaide have also been in good from this year having only lost twice in 2014, one of those being to Wellington. Their close loss to Melbourne Victory last week shouldn’t slow down their momentum too much and they’ll be keen to bounce back quickly against a team known for their struggles on the road playing their second consecutive away game.

Head to head: Played 20. Adelaide 9, Phoenix 5, Draws 6.

Previous encounter: Phoenix 2-1 Adelaide, 1 Feb 2014 (Round 17)

Possible starting XI….

Adelaide United: Galekovic, Boogard, McKain, Elrich, Malik, Isalas, Carrusca, Watson, Farreira, Cirio, Djite.

Wellington Phoenix: Moss. Boxall, Sigmund, Duratne, Caira. Muscat, Lia. Hernandez, Cunningham, Huysegems, Boyd.

Eyes on: Eugene Galekovic
The Adelaide captain was below his best against Melbourne Victory last week, gifting a goal to Archie Thompson when an attempted clearance went horribly wrong. Galekovic will need to do better this week as golden boot leader Stein Huysegems will be on the hunt to increase his total and keep his lead at the top of the goal scoring ladder.

Prediction: 

With just one point separating these two teams on the A-League ladder, this game promises to be an entertaining closely fought battle. Fans can expect to see plenty of goals as both teams have been finding the back of the net more regularly in recent weeks and there’s no reason to suggest that would stop now.
Normally it would be impossible to tip Wellington away from home but this season they’ve shown they have overcome their away troubles with a number of victories in Australia. Adelaide meanwhile are unbeaten at home in their last six matches.
With all that taken into account it looks like a high scoring draw could be the safest bet this time round.

Adelaide 3 – 3 Wellington