Wellington Phoenix vs Adelaide United Tips & Prediction - Wellington favoured across the ditch

It's eighth up against ninth as Wellington and Adelaide clash for the second time this season. Phoenix are experiencing an upturn in form, heading into this clash having won two of their last three games, with striker Ifeanyi Eze in great goalscoring form, while Adelaide suffered an embarrassing 4-0 loss at home to the Mariners last time out. Considering the Reds are usually so strong at Coopers, it was an extremely poor performance and now they must go on the road, where they've struggled in the A-League for quite a while now.

Of course, Adelaide were missing three players to the U23 Asian Cup in Luka Jovanović, Yaya Dukuly and Ethan Alagich - and they'll all be sidelined for this game too. With their last performance in mind, there's just no way you can back the Reds on the road here. Wellington are confident having crushed in-form Brisbane last week and they should be able to hold off Adelaide in front of their home fans.

Wellington haven't been able to generate any momentum so far this term, failing to win back-to-back matches.

However, the Nix have won two of their last three, taking out the Mariners 3-1 at home before last week's 3-0 demolition of Brisbane at Redcliffe.

Despite Colin Armiento being sent off in the first half, Phoenix were able to withstand everything the Roar threw at them, with Eze opening the scoring for his fifth goal of the season before Kazuki Nagasawa and Paulo Retre sealed the three points.

The Reds haven't been in good form for the last month or so, losing four of their last six matches.

Usually reliable at Coopers, Adelaide delivered a shocking performance last week against the lowly Mariners, suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat.

Not a great sign ahead of this clash across the Tasman for a team that only managed three away wins throughout the entire 2025 calendar year.