Arnold fears the Phoenix

All set ... Central Coast defender Pedj Bojic has had
a ban for violent conduct overturned and will be available to play
against Wellington. Photo: Getty Images









CENTRAL COAST coach Graham Arnold believes in-form Wellington Phoenix are a huge threat to his side's hopes of a top-two finish.



The Mariners produced their best performance of the
season when the two sides last met, chalking up a 3-0 win at Westpac
Stadium in November, but Arnold expects a more difficult encounter at
Bluetongue Stadium this evening.



Ricki Herbert's outfit heads to Gosford on the back of an impressive 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory.


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''They are a tough team to play against,'' Arnold said.
''We lost 2-0 to them over there, then beat them 3-0 in what I think was
probably our best display of the season over 90 minutes.''



Two familiar faces return to Bluetongue for the visitors,
in the form of former Mariners striker Dylan Macallister, who has
scored six goals in his last four games, and Danny Vukovic.



''We have to be wary of the two Mariners coming home -
Danny Vukovic in goal and Dylan Macallister, who played very well for
Wellington,'' Arnold said.



The Mariners will be without defender Adam Kwasnik, who
is suspended, but fullback Pedj Bojic is available after successfully
overturning a two-match ban for violent conduct in the 2-0 win over
Adelaide on Boxing Day.



Herbert said the win over Melbourne on Wednesday was the
most impressive display since he arrived at the club four years ago and
that he had no intention of tinkering with his line-up.



''Things are pretty stable at the moment and from an
injury point of view everyone came through Wednesday night's game OK,''
he said. ''So we didn't see any reason to change things around.



''Dylan's in good form at the moment. He's scored four
goals in his last six matches and that's a good return rate, so he'll
probably lead the line again on Sunday.''



Meanwhile, Melbourne Victory striker Danny Allsopp's past
feats against Adelaide United have coach Ernie Merrick keen to hand him
his first start since rejoining the A-League.



Allsopp came off the bench in Wednesday night's loss to
Wellington - his first A-League match in more than 16 months, after
stints in Qatar and the US.



While Merrick said Allsopp, the fourth-highest
goal-scorer in league history, was still not at full match fitness, he
had shown enough to be a likely starter at AAMI Park today.



''If you remember Danny Allsopp's record against
Adelaide, it's pretty outstanding, so he'd be a good person to start
with,'' Merrick said.



Increasing that likelihood, Victory are still without
fellow strikers Robbie Kruse, on Asian Cup duty, and Archie Thompson,
out injured.



Melbourne aim to build on a remarkable 10-game winning
streak against Adelaide, the club they defeated to win their two
championships.



But Merrick was more concerned about turning around the
poor form shown in Wellington, where a four-game winning streak was
ended.



''The short turnaround is very good for us, particularly
playing at home in front of our crowd here at AAMI Park against a team
like Adelaide,'' he said.



''You wouldn't want to dwell on that loss and, more importantly, that performance for too long.''



He said defender Matthew Kemp and attacking midfielder
Tom Pondeljak were struggling with fitness issues and would drop out of
the squad, while skipper Kevin Muscat would return after a rest.



Allsopp was looking forward to renewing his rivalry with the Reds.



His most recent match against them was the 2009 grand
final win, when he was furious that an alleged headbutt earned him a red
card, later revoked on appeal.



He had scored in his previous three matches against Adelaide.



''It's in the back of my mind,'' Allsopp said, when asked if the grand final incident left him with a point to prove.



''But that's in the past now and we won that grand final
and we need to get some wins on the board again going into the finals
this time.''
Adelaide have been boosted by the inclusion of two international signings - Dutchman Andy Slory and Uruguayan Francisco Usuca