Western Sydney have produced a dazzling clinic with red-hot striker Brandon Borrello marking his A-League Men's milestone game with a goal in a 4-0 home trouncing of Wellington.
The result at Commbank Stadium on Friday moved Wanderers up to second on goal difference above Adelaide, who play on Sunday.
Fading Phoenix dropped a spot to sixth below Sydney on goal difference and are winless in five, having picked up just one point in that period.
Newcastle, who host Central Coast, and Western United, who entertain Melbourne City, could draw level with Phoenix if they win their tough home games against high-flying opponents on Saturday.
Wanderers caused enormous problems for Phoenix with attacking threats from multiple sources, as they scored twice in each half and racked up four goals for the fourth time in their last nine games.
"Right from the start to the end it was a real clinic," Wanderers coach Marko Rudan said.
"The score could have been anything, it was a really good performance, something that we've been building towards right from the start of the year.
"They are in a good place and they want more and that's the great thing about it. I'm not going to put a ceiling on what can happen."
Borrello, Calum Nieuwenhof, Amor Layouni, Milos Ninkovic and Aidan Simmons all caused Phoenix headaches with their movement and skill.
Wanderers took control with goals from Borrello in the ninth minute and Nieuwenhof on the half-hour.
Playing in his 100th ALM game, Borrello scored his fourth goal in the last three games and 12th of the season to give Wanderers a great start.
He fired home following a pass from Ninkovic, who was making his 200th ALM appearance, with Layouni and Simmons also involved in the build-up.
Borrello later tuned provider for Nieuwenhof, who cut inside a defender and placed the ball home, punishing Wellington for losing the ball near their penalty area.
"The first half we didn't deal with a few balls over the top defensively, I think today was a good lesson for our team," Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay said.
"It was more of a game where it was men versus boys and that's what it looked like from the sideline."
Impressive right back Simmons capped a fine performance with the Wanderers' third in the 65th minute, when he scored his first ALM goal.
The 19-year-old showed great composure after racing on to a Romain Amalfitano through ball, rounding the goalkeeper and a defender before slotting home.
Two substitutes combined for the fourth In the 87th minute when Kusini Yengi scored from a Nicolas Milanovic through ball.
It took Wellington until the 71st minute to force a save from Lawrence Thomas, who did well to deny Steven Ugarkovic and also thwarted Oskar Zawada later.
Wellington goalkeeper and captain Oliver Sail kept his side in the game in the first half making three good saves, while Phoenix had a number of off target attempts.
