McBreen started up front for the first-half of the season before missing a match against Sydney with suspension in December.

Adam Kwasnik came in and did a wonderful job, leaving Mariners coach Graham Arnold no choice but to leave McBreen on the bench.

With Kwasnik suspended for Sunday's match McBreen gets another shot at making the starting position his own.

McBreen is likely to start up front alongside Matt Simon with recruit Michael Baird possibly making his club debut off the bench.

"I'm hopeful of getting a start," McBreen said. "I got sent off and missed the Sydney game and Kwas (Kwasnik) took his chance.

"Now I might get a chance and I need to take it. I'm looking forward to it."

McBreen has netted three goals so far this campaign, but knows he needs to add to his tally in what is a big period for the Mariners.

Title favourites Brisbane make the trek to Gosford for another big match next Wednesday.

Arnold said the club's only focus this week has been preparing for Wellington.

"We'll start to worry about Brisbane after Sunday night," Arnold said.

Arnold added: "They (Wellington) are a tough team to play against, 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.

"They're going to be an extremely tough team that are well coached by Ricki Herbert and it's going to be a tough game.

"We always look at the positive side of things and the positive is that Adelaide has played three games more than us and we're four points behind so everything is in our hands, and I'm happy when we can control the situation."

Wellington will head into the clash on the back of a 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory and two familiar faces return to Bluetongue on Sunday with the visitors, in the form of ex-Mariners striker Dylan Macallister, along with long-serving goalkeeper and fans favourite Danny Vukovic.

"They're battling for sixth spot and they had a great result against Melbourne Victory so their confidence is going to be high, and 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.

New Mariners signing Michael Baird will also be available for the Yellow and Navy although Arnold it is likely the 27-year-old striker won't start.

"I think he'll be on the bench, Adam Kwasnik's suspended. Michael has only come in this week but he will probably come off the bench and we'll use Matty Simon and McBreen up front," he said.

Arnold admits the side is still hurting from the fact it missed out on all three points in front of the biggest home crowd of the season - a healthy New Year's Eve attendance of 12,409 - and he has promised plenty of fireworks for what he hopes is another big turnout on Sunday.

"We have been playing great football and I believe games at Bluetongue have got the most goals in the A-League this year, 36 goals in the 9 games that have been played at Bluetongue so there's always entertainment," he said.

"It's going to be a tough game and hopefully we are going to get a response like we did on Friday against Melbourne Victory, we had a fantastic crowd, 12-and-a-half-thousand and the question is where have they been all year.

"Let's hope a big crowd turns up to support us because they were on song on Friday night and even though we lost the game in the last five minutes, without their support and the way they supported us we might not have got to the last five minutes so they are the 12th man and lets hope they turn up on Sunday."