Double blow for Wellington Phoenix ahead of City showdown in Wollongong

Key defender Steven Taylor has been ruled out, while midfielder Reno Piscopo is also likely to miss the Phoenix's clash with Melbourne City at WIN Stadium.

The loss of Taylor, in particular, is crucial for Wellington, who will aim to contain City's firepower led by the likes of Craig Noone and Jamie Maclaran.

It is disappointing for the club's former captain, who played just 100 minutes after arriving in Wollongong last month.

"Taylor won't be available for the game and at this stage, Reno (ankle) is touch and go, but I believe highly unlikely to be available as well," Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said on Sunday morning.

"Taylor has got a grade one strain in his quad, so he will probably miss a few weeks at this stage. But he's tracking well, he's on his feet the last few days which is good for us, we might bring him back a little bit earlier. But at the same time, we need to be cautious that we don't bring him back too early.

"I think the hardest thing for us this season is not having that consistency in our backline, it's hurt us a lot with players coming in and out. I'm a big believer in consistency and you would have noticed that when we did have the same backline for two or three weeks in a row, we got some good results. I think that's been one of the biggest issues that we've had this season."

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Talay said Monday night's game shaped up as crucial for Wellington - who sit in ninth on the ladder - in their pursuit of a finals spot.

"Even they lost their last game against Western United, I think they're (City) the in-form team currently within the competition. They're a very fluent team, they play some really good attacking football and have got some really good players that can hurt you," he said.

"For us, it's a great opportunity for our players to step up and showcase themselves and show what they can do because I still believe we're a great footballing team and believe we've played some really good football this season at time. But like I said, the inconsistency of players being in and out has hurt us this season.

"It's a very important game because there's still more than 30 points up for grabs. There's still a lot of points there to win. For us, we need to go on a run of three or four winning games to put ourselves in the hunt again. Like I said, it's a great occasion, we're playing against a team that's playing some really football. And we play a certain brand of football as well. I think it will be a great game tomorrow evening. From the first day back at training after our game against Macarthur, we focused on the importance of this game for us."