KEY POINTS:
A crowd of up to 30,000 will hoot and holler when the Wellington Phoenix players run on to the Telstra Dome pitch in Melbourne tonight.
Few will be cheering for Ricki Herbert's team.
It is a classic dog-eat-dog situation for both teams in the first match of the last regular season round.
The Phoenix must win - for the second time this season over the Melbourne Victory - and then hope Central Coast lose to Adelaide at Bluetongue Stadium in the last match of the round on Sunday night.
Melbourne need the win to put the pressure on Adelaide, who have the same points and a one-goal advantage on differential.
A win for Melbourne would also end any hope third-placed Queensland Roar has of claiming the minor premiership.
In their last encounter, in Wellington in late November, the Phoenix came from a goal down after 20 minutes to beat the Victory 2-1.
Seven of the Phoenix players who started that game will run out tonight.
In their other clash this season, also at Westpac Stadium (in round two), Melbourne won 4-2 with Shane Smeltz scoring both for the Phoenix.
While he still heads the golden boot race (by a goal), Smeltz has not found the net in his last couple of outings. This would be the perfect time to return to his goal-scoring best.
Michael Ferrante returns to the Phoenix midfield in place of suspended Tim Brown in the only change from the team who showed close to their best form in holding leaders Adelaide 1-1 five days ago.
WHAT: Phoenix v Melbourne Victory
WHERE: Telstra Dome
WHEN: kick-off at 10pm (NZT)
TV: Sky Sport 3, live
