Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick sympathises with the plight of his Sydney FC counterpart Graham Arnold and is tipping the struggling Sky Blues to make the A-League finals.
Phoenix beat Sydney 3-1 at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night to stretch the seventh-placed harbour city club's run without a win to eight matches.
Arnold's side trail sixth-placed Melbourne Victory by three points with four rounds remaining, with Perth moving up to fifth another point further ahead following a 4-0 home rout of Central Coast on Saturday.
Compounding their defeat, Sydney lost Serbian playmaker Milos Ninkovic for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
Veteran David Carney and youngster Rhyan Grant also suffered injuries which ruled them out of the squad leaving on Sunday morning for Wednesday's Asian Champions League game away to South Korean side Pohang Steelers.