Sydney FC is still confident of winning a third consecutive Premiers' Plate despite the huge challenge of facing Melbourne Victory on Saturday night, according to veteran defender Alex Wilkinson.
The Sky Blues are six points behind league leaders Perth Glory with four matches to play, after Victory did them a favour by beating Tony Popovic's side last weekend.
With Sydney FC still host to the Glory in the second-last round of the season, Wilkinson believes the Sky Blues can still defend the title they won last campaign.
"We've had some great battles against Melbourne Victory over the years and it's one that we always look forward to and hopefully we can come away with a very important three points," Wilkinson said.
"We're still pushing for that top spot though and Victory did us a bit of favour over the weekend by beating Perth, because it gets us that little bit closer.
"We still think we are a good chance of gaining that Premiers' Plate until it becomes mathematically impossible, and if we can keep building and winning games it will be all to play for against Perth in a few weeks."
After the Sky Blues went more than two years without losing to Victory, including seven straight wins featuring the 2016-17 Grand Final, they have lost their last three matches to Kevin Muscat's side and will be keen to arrest the slide prior to a likely finals contest between the two.
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