Melbourne Victory are preparing for an all-or-nothing tilt at the A-League premier's plate against Sydney FC on Friday but they're barely rating a mention by Graham Arnold.
Asked by reporters what he believes are their opponent's greatest threats on Wednesday, Sydney coach Arnold flipped the question.
"Us," he replied, tongue in cheek.
The Sky Blues have every right to be confident ahead of the Allianz Stadium outing, beating Victory twice in previous Big Blue clashes this season on the way to their runaway league-leading position.
They can effectively lock up the A-League minor premiership with six matches in the regular season remaining with a win.
A positive result in what shapes as a possible grand final preview would take Sydney to 53 points overall -- 11 ahead of the second-placed Victory, who are refusing to give up hope of stealing the premier's plate from under their noses.
"[Victory coach Kevin] Muscat's doing a good job. They're a good side," Arnold said.
"But we feel we're in great shape mentally, physically, tactically and we expect to win.
"We can't control what they do and we don't really look too much into what they're doing. It's about us performing at our best level."
Arnold is refusing to buy into talk of a mental edge over the Victory after coming from behind twice to down their main premiership rivals this season.
Nor is he entertaining the prospect of the pressure to speedily lock up the minor premiership affecting his players.
"It [premier's plate] hasn't been discussed and, to be honest, it hasn't been thought about," Arnold said.
"We set our goals at the start of the year and 58 points is what we're looking at the and the rest will take care of itself.
"For me, it's just a round 22 game."
