Something has to give in Adelaide on Friday night.
Adelaide United Women and Wellington Phoenix Women enter Round 4 of the 2026/27 Ninja A-League Women season without a victory between them. Adelaide have two points, Wellington have one, and neither can afford to let the opening weeks of the campaign quietly turn into something more troublesome.
Yet one statistic suggests we should forget about a draw.
Adelaide United Women vs Wellington Phoenix Women have met 11 times competitively. Adelaide have won six. Wellington have won five.
Draws? Absolutely none.
That makes Friday’s meeting at ServiceFM Stadium particularly intriguing. Two teams struggling to win are about to play the one opponent they apparently refuse to share anything with.
Adelaide United Women vs Wellington Phoenix Women: When and where is the match?
Adelaide United host Wellington Phoenix at ServiceFM Stadium on Friday, November 6, with kick-off at 6:30 pm local Adelaide time and 8:00 am in the UK.
For supporters asking where they can watch Adelaide United vs Wellington Phoenix FC, the women’s game is scheduled to be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 4 and HBO Max, with coverage listings confirming the 8:00 am UK kick-off.
In America, these games can be available on ESPN+. Two Aussies who’ve moved stateside may be keeping an eye on the score, as Rhea Ripley and Zaria are both from Adelaide; however, Rhea has been much more vocal about supporting the team.
It should be worth setting the alarm for.
Adelaide and Wellington need something to change
Three matches do not make a season, particularly in a competition that can turn itself upside down within a couple of weekends.
But the table is already putting a little pressure on them.
Adelaide sit seventh with two points after two draws and a defeat. Their latest outing ended in a 2-0 loss against Central Coast Mariners, with Talia Kapetanellis scoring twice.
Wellington are immediately below them in eighth with one point after a draw and two defeats. Bev Priestman’s side were beaten 2-0 by Perth Glory last time out. And of course, they lost to their nemesis Melbourne City in the season opener.
The wider runs are even less comfortable. Adelaide have gone eight matches without victory across all competitions. Wellington’s current winless sequence stands at four.
Adelaide face another problem.
Chelsie Dawber and Fiona Worts are still looking for their first goals of the new campaign. Those droughts will eventually end, but Adelaide need “eventually” to become “Friday”.
Especially because the defender waiting for them is rather familiar with this particular patch of South Australia.
Abby Erceg comes back to Adelaide
Almost 14 years after leaving Adelaide United, Abby Erceg returns wearing Wellington yellow.
Some football careers are ordinary; others require you to point at different parts of the globe.
Since her Adelaide spell between 2011 and 2013, Erceg has played in Germany, won major honours in the United States with Western New York Flash and North Carolina Courage, represented Racing Louisville, moved to Mexico with Toluca and eventually returned to Australasian football with Wellington in August.
“So it’s been cool just to come back and, you know, reintroduce myself to the country and to the team and to football and New Zealand and Australia,” Erceg said of her return.
Now comes the particularly neat part of the circle.
She returns to Adelaide as one of the players responsible for stopping Dawber and Worts from rediscovering their scoring touch.
Erceg has completed 46 accurate passes per 90 at 82.1% accuracy through the opening three matches, while Mackenzie Barry has operated alongside her with 83.5% passing accuracy.
For Priestman, Erceg offers more than another experienced centre-back. She offers calm to a team still learning how to turn promising passages into points.
Wellington’s attack has suddenly become more complicated
The bigger concern for Wellington comes at the opposite end.
Makala Woods had been one of the early bright spots of the Phoenix season, scoring twice, but was forced off after just 17 minutes against Perth with a serious ankle injury.
That changes the shape of Wellington’s attack.
Emma Main was introduced early against Perth and could take on more responsibility against Adelaide, while Grace Jale offers another experienced option. Milly Clegg also adds pace, giving Priestman a different weapon if the game stretches.
Wellington’s squad is considerably deeper than those names alone.
For anyone searching who are the women’s players on the Wellington Phoenix women’s squad?, the official 2026/27 group includes goalkeepers Victoria Esson, Aimee Danieli, Brooke Neary and Addie Ferris; defenders Mackenzie Barry, Ellie Walker, Abby Erceg, Marisa van der Meer, Lara Wall, Alyssha Eglinton and Freya Des Fountain; and midfield options including CJ Bott, Grace Jale, Pia Vlok, Tameka Yallop, Brooke Nunn, Manaia Elliott, Kam Pickett, Alyssa Whinham, Mikaela Bangalan and Sienna Candy.
The forward group contains Woods, Sabitra Bhandari, Indiah-Paige Riley, Emma Taylor-Main, Clegg, Zoe Benson and Lily Brazendale.
There is significant experience in there. Bott, Erceg and Yallop have operated at levels far beyond an ordinary domestic fixture.
The challenge is making that experience count when the results aren’t arriving.
As for another common search, what is the salary of each player at Wellington Phoenix?, reliable individual salary figures for the women’s squad are not publicly disclosed. Any supposed player-by-player list should therefore be treated cautiously rather than presented as fact.
Tianna Harris could dictate how this game looks
One of the most interesting players in this Adelaide United Women v Wellington Phoenix Women preview is not a striker at all.
Adelaide’s centre-back is averaging a remarkable 61.4 accurate passes per 90, alongside 8.2 accurate long balls per 90, both league-leading numbers according to the supplied early-season data.
That matters because Theo Tsiounis does not necessarily need Adelaide to delicately thread their way through Wellington.
Harris can simply go over them.
Adelaide can sit within their organised shape before asking Harris and Isabella Yakel to move the ball quickly towards Paige Zois, Lara Gooch, Kiera Meyers and the forward line.
Wellington offer a very different challenge.
Manaia Elliott is averaging 6.0 tackles per 90, another league-leading figure, and represents the aggression Priestman wants without the ball.
So a lovely little contest hides beneath the bigger one.
Harris wants time to look up and launch.
Elliott wants to make sure nobody gets time for anything.
Wellington has a recent history on their side
The overall Adelaide United Women vs Wellington Phoenix Women stats could hardly be tighter.
Eleven matches. Six Adelaide victories. Five Wellington victories. An average of 2.91 goals per game and a both-teams-to-score rate of 55%.
Recent history, however, belongs to the Phoenix.
Wellington won both meetings during the 2025/26 season, beating Adelaide 3-1 and 2-0. A third consecutive victory would suddenly make a miserable opening three rounds look considerably less important.
That is the strange thing about November football.
A season can appear to be developing one personality before a single result rips the name badge off and introduces somebody completely different.
For Adelaide, a win would end that eight-game wait and potentially awaken an attack featuring proven A-League Women goalscorers.
For Wellington, three points away from home would give Priestman’s new-look squad evidence that the ideas are beginning to produce something tangible.
Adelaide Women vs Wellington Women prediction
There is a temptation to predict a draw precisely because neither side has won yet.
History makes that almost too boring.
This fixture has never seen a draw, and Wellington’s consecutive victories over Adelaide last season give the Phoenix a psychological foothold despite their difficult opening.
The loss of Woods worries me. Adelaide should also create opportunities through their wide players, particularly if Gooch and Meyers can isolate Wellington defenders rather than repeatedly attacking Erceg through the middle.
But Wellington possess enough experience to survive difficult periods, and Clegg’s speed could become increasingly important as legs tire.
Prediction: Adelaide United Women 1-2 Wellington Phoenix Women.
It would be Wellington’s third consecutive victory in this fixture and their first win of the season.
More importantly, it would give Priestman’s side something statistics cannot manufacture: relief.
Friday brings together two winless teams at ServiceFM Stadium. Eleven previous meetings suggest neither will leave feeling better.
For one of them, the season may finally begin properly.
