A cracker at the Cake Tin awaits on Sunday as Wellington Phoenix do battle with Melbourne City. We’ve put together the numbers you need to know ahead of the second Elimination Final.
For two sides that have been relatively free-scoring this season, the Phoenix and City have surprisingly played out two goalless draws in their last two meetings, suggesting this will be a lot tighter contest than people are predicting.
Wellington have the wood on their opponents in the overall standings and handed City a 5-1 defeat when the side’s met back in Round 8 but City are responsible for the Phoenix’s heaviest ever home defeat when they claimed their own 5-0 win last season.
This will be Wellington’s first play-off appearance since 2012. In total, they’ve won two, drawn two and lost two in the play-offs, while City’s only previous play-off appearance was in 2012, when they lost 3-0 to Perth Glory.
It all points to an intriguing Elimination Final at Westpac Stadium, where whoever scores first could go a long way to booking themselves a semi-final clash against Premiers Melbourne Victory next weekend.
15 – Matches between the two clubs.
6 – Wellington wins.
3 – City [Heart] wins.
0-5 – Wellington’s heaviest ever home defeat. It was against John van ‘t Schip’s side last season.
5 – penalty misses by Phoenix this season. All the other teams combined have missed four.
90 – City’s David Williams will make his 90th appearance for the club to become their most capped player. He overtakes Socceroo left-back Aziz Behich.
11 – This will be the 11th finals match Ernie Merrick’s has been a coach for. It’s the most of any other coach in the Hyundai A-League, with just one defeat from those 10 games so far.
19 – different goal-scorers Melbourne City have had this season. An Hyundai A-League high.
237 – crosses by Aaron Mooy this season. The only player to surpass 200 in the entire competition.
66 – more shots at goal by City compared to Phoenix this season. Despite this, the Kiwi side has still scored nine more goals.
3 – straight red cards for Melbourne City, the most in the competition.
