Football: Phoenix looking at banana skin

Nathan Burns said he was keen to keep playing in Wellington. Photo / Getty

Playing a team who has only four competition points from 13 games should mean you're in for an easy outing.

But the Wellington Phoenix know the Western Sydney Wanderers are due to rise from their slumber at some point; they just don't want it to happen against them in Penrith on Sunday.

The Wanderers are anchored to the foot of the A-League ladder and are yet to win a game this season but this is also the same side that won the Asian Champions League in November.

They've also added a handful of new recruits, including former Australian youth internationals Kerem Bulut and Sam Gallaway, during the transfer window and they have too much quality in their side to not beat somebody. It's just a matter of when it will happen.

"I don't really take in to consideration where other teams are at at the moment," Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick said in reference to the points table.

"In this league anyone can take points off anyone else. We've got to focus on our football and if we play football the way we can play it we'll come away with some points from the game."

The fourth-placed Phoenix suffered a frustrating 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Roar in Brisbane on Monday night after they looked like they had done enough to earn a draw.

Merrick said the side had moved on from the disappointment of conceding an injury-time winner against Brisbane and they worked on keeping the ball in the midfield at training this week.

Meanwhile, striker Nathan Burns, who has been the subject of transfer speculation for the past month, said he was keen to keep playing in Wellington.

"I'm quite happy here. Getting game-time and staying healthy is most important," he said. "So I'm pretty excited with where the team's at at the moment.

"I'm just focusing on being here in Wellington at the moment. Obviously in football there's always going to be a bit of speculation but you just have to focus on the current time and your next game, which is against Western Sydney."

Burns is in the first season of a two-year contract and leads the golden boot standings in the A-League with 10 goals.

A Chinese club had shown interest in Burns but the Phoenix haven't had any recent correspondence from them and given the A-League's transfer window has closed, any potential deal would be complex to complete.

The 26-year-old was part of Australia's successful Asian Cup squad recently and has reinvented himself under Merrick, while his play alongside attackers Roy Krishna and Michael McGlinchey has been crucial for the Phoenix.

Burns played against the Roar on Monday night and laid on Krishna's goal - the first of the game - with a well-timed cross.

"He was terrific. His attitude was really good," Merrick said of Burns. "His contribution was very important. It was good to see him back and firing."