The Wellington Phoenix are looking to finally chalk up their first New Zealand derby win this weekend.
Head coach Giancarlo Italiano’s job has been made tougher with the news that on-loan All White Sarpreet Singh has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with an MCL injury.
Tim Payne will also be absent with a hamstring issue, but English ‘keeper Josh Oluwayemi has returned to the squad for the first time this year.
“I’m disappointed, yes, disappointed more for Sarpreet,” Italiano told media pre-match.
“He’s got a good attitude, great character, I felt like he added to the team.
“We were trying to expose him as much as we could because we’ve got a big stretch of games.
“Honestly I was about a minute from subbing him. We had comms on the field to make sure he was alright, he was pushing really well. It was really disappointing.
“Joshy’s back, he’s fully fit, it was his first week of full training without any sort of restrictions, and he looks really good.”
He believes that the Nix have earned some good fortune after a run of positive performances without matching results.
“It’s just another good opportunity to play a big game, play in front of a big crowd.
“We must have smashed a couple of mirrors somewhere, because the amount of bad luck we’ve had over the last couple of seasons, we just haven’t had things go for us. We’re due for one.
“Again, the fans deserve it, the club deserves it. Things aren’t going off the park like we’d want, but we want to give something back.
“This is the best game to show the fans what we’re about.”
Auckland’s top scorer Sam Cosgrove has been ruled out of the derby, suspended after accumulating five yellow cards, but Italiano doesn’t expect the challenge to drop.
“The dynamic will still be the same, they’re very mobile in the front four.
“Cosgrove gives an outlet, not only in the box in terms of crosses. He’s a good scrappy player.
“They won’t have that, but they’ll still have aggression and speed up top.
“Whoever they play, it doesn’t really matter, they’ll still be a formidable opponent and we have to match that.”
And he believes the group will find success by staying “in the moment” in what promises to be a feisty game.
“The flavour of this game, the intensity is a little bit different. We need to be in the game for 90 minutes, stay calm, don’t make silly mistakes, and punish their errors.
“You can talk all the tactics, but the game itself has its own dynamic. They have to be flexible and mentally resilient.
“When you talk about emotion, how you navigate through a game, you can plan, but it really comes down to the ones who can stay in the moment.
“The group is maturing slowly, realising that even with inconsistencies with refereeing, with how the games fluctuate, they have to hold themselves to account.
We don’t treat it any differently, we just focus on the opponent and tactically breaking them down. There’s no real talk about motivation and incentive, all the boys want to win.”
The round 18 Isuzu UTE A-League match between the Wellington Phoenix and Auckland FC is scheduled to kick-off at Sky Stadium in Wellington at 5pm Saturday and will be broadcast LIVE and free-to-air on Sky Open and LIVE on Sky Sport 1 in New Zealand, and on Paramount+ in Australia.
Most recent meeting: 6 December 2025 – Auckland FC 3 Wellington Phoenix 1
All-time A-League head-to-head: Phoenix 0W, Auckland 5W & 0D.
Wellington Phoenix squad (two to be omitted): 1. Josh OLUWAYEMI (gk), 3. Corban PIPER, 4. Manjrekar JAMES, 7. Ifeanyi EZE, 8. Paulo RETRE, 10. Nikola MILEUSNIC, 11. Carlo ARMIENTO, 14. Alex RUFER (c), 15. Isaac HUGHES, 16. Sander KARTUM, 17. Gabriel SLOANE-RODRIGUES, 18. Lukas KELLY-HEALD, 20. Ramy NAJJARINE, 24. Xuan LOKE, 25. Kazuki NAGASAWA, 27. Matt SHERIDAN, 28. Bill TUILOMA, 29. Luke BROOKE-SMITH, 30. Alby KELLY-HEALD (gk), 39. Jayden SMITH. Unavailable: 6. Tim PAYNE (injured), 9. Sarpreet SINGH (injured), 19. Nathan WALKER (injured).
Auckland FC squad (one to be omitted): 1. Michael WOUD (gk), 2. Hiroki SAKAI (c), 3. Jake GIRDWOOD-REICH, 4. Nando PIJNAKER, 6. Louis VERSTRAETE, 7. Cameron HOWIESON, 8. Felipe GALLEGOS, 10. Guillermo MAY, 11. Marlee FRANÇOIS, 12. Jimmy HILTON (gk), 15. Francis DE VRIES, 17. Callan ELLIOT, 21. Jesse RANDALL, 22. Jake BRIMMER, 23. Dan HALL, 27. Logan ROGERSON, 28. Bailey FERGUSON, 35. Jonty BIDOIS, 77. Lachlan BROOK. Unavailable: 9. Sam COSGROVE (suspended), 20. Oli SAIL (injured).
Cover photo credit: Photomac/Cam McIntosh
