Midweek means another round of Hyundai A-League action is on the horizon, which in turn means it’s time to analyse another raft of stats from our friends at Opta and mix in a few gems of our own.
Enjoy!
Milestone Man
Glory skipper Diego Castro is in line to make his 100th Hyundai A-League appearance for the club on Sunday.
The Spaniard has scored 39 goals in his 99 games to date, seven of which have come against Wellington, with three of those scored at Westpac Stadium.
Castro has also created 230 scoring chances since debuting in the competition – 21 more than any other player.
Clearances King
Alex Grant is leading the way for Glory when it comes to defensive clearances this season, having racked up an impressive 18.
Next-best is Osama Malik with nine, while Gregory Wuthrich has six.
Trans-Tasman Tussles
Glory claimed seven points from their three meetings with Phoenix last season, but have not secured all three points on the chilly side of the Tasman since March 2016 when Diego Castro and Andy Keogh provided the goals in a 2-1 win.
The overall record of results between the two clubs stands at 16 wins for Glory, 13 for Wellington and eight draws.
Shots Shutdown
Glory are currently ranked fourth in the league when it comes to shots faced.
22 efforts have been fired in towards Liam Reddy’s goal, with seven of those on target.
Phoenix, meanwhile, are ranked 11th having faced 39 shots, 13 of which have been on target.
Pulling the Strings
Of players to have completed more than 150 minutes this season, Juande leads Glory’s passing accuracy chart with a return of 90.8%.
Osama Malik is on 88.9% and Neil Kilkenny on 85.4%, while Luke DeVere is Wellington’s best performer with 90.7%.
First Blood
Glory won on their first ever Hyundai A-League visit to Phoenix’s forerunners, New Zealand Knights.
Jamie Harnwell scored the only goal of the game at North Harbour Stadium in September 2005.
Friends and Foes
A host of players have worn both purple and yellow and black over the years, including a number who may be involved in Sunday’s clash at Westpac Stadium.
Glory trio Liam Reddy, Tando Velaphi and Jacob Tratt all previously spent time in the New Zealand capital, while Walter Scott completed a switch to Phoenix from Glory at the end of last season.
Tough-nut Talay
During his playing career, Phoenix Head Coach Ufuk Talay lost in only one of his 12 appearances against Glory for Sydney FC and North Queensland Fury.
The 43-year-old was also a teammate of Glory counterpart Tony Popovic at Sydney FC.
#OneGlory
