Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix: match preview

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It's third versus fourth as two of the competition's form teams go head-to-head at HBF Park in pursuit of second place in the Hyundai A-League ladder.

Perth Glory had set a club record six-match winning run before racking up back-to-back draws in recent weeks, while Wellington Phoenix got back on track with a 2-1 win against Newcastle Jets in their last outing after their own club record nine-match undefeated streak came to an end.

Ufuk Talay's Phoenix make the long trip across the Tasman coming off a bye week, after left-back Liberato Cacace was nominated for the Hyundai A-League Player of the Month for January.

A win in Western Australia would see the ‘Nix overtake their Distance Derby rivals in the table, and possibly climb to second depending on the Melbourne Derby result. The Kiwi club have never finished higher than fourth in their Hyundai A-League history.

It will be 70 days, come Friday, since Tony Popovic's Premiers last lost a match and they claimed a 2-1 victory in the New Zealand capital back in October, with Bruno Fornaroli and Chris Ikonomidis on the scoresheet.

The Uruguayan has hit top form in a purple jersey, scoring six goals in his last six games, to go fifth in the Golden Boot charts. His season's tally of nine is one goal behind Wellington's Mexican ace Ulises Davila – who netted against Glory last time out – and has 10 goals in 15 Hyundai A-League games.