Melbourne City star Mathew Leckie close to being available for derby against Victory

A Socceroos great has had enough of niggling injuries as he plans for a return in the A-League’s Melbourne derby.

Socceroos stalwart Mathew Leckie is poised to return for Melbourne City in Saturday night’s derby against the Victory after recovering from a quad injury.

Leckie missed City’s 1-0 opening-round win over the Jets in Newcastle last weekend, but has been named in an extended squad for the Melbourne derby at AAMI Park.

“I’ve just got see how I feel (on Friday after training),” the veteran attacker said on Thursday.

“Hopefully I’ll get through the session well, and we’ll have that conversation.”

Leckie, 33, was reluctant to declare himself a certainty because of disrupted pre-season and a recent spate of niggling injuries that were a source of frustration.

“Being injured ... and then coming back to pick up something else has been annoying, so hopefully after this one, I can get a bit of a run going,” he said.

If Leckie does play on Saturday, he’ll be intent on ensuring it’s a night to forget for ex-City coach Patrick Kisnorbo, who is now in charge of the Victory.

“It just adds more fuel to the derby,” he said.

“Knowing him as a coach and how he prepared us, Melbourne Victory’s going to come out firing, really intense and aggressive, so it’ll match the derby perfectly.

“If you really want to experience a good game of football, there’s no better than a derby.

“There’ll be a real intensity in the game, and should be a good atmosphere as well.”

Melbourne City’s Mathew Leckie (left) and Melbourne Victory’s Nishan Velupillay expect a great atmosphere at Saturday night’s derby. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Victory star Nishan Velupillay agreed, backing a high-standard of play this weekend.

However, the recent Socceroos debutant also suggested that it was important not to get caught up in the hype that surrounded the derby.

“We just treat it as another game, and (Kisnorbo) prepares us the way he has every week,” Velupillay said.

The Victory’s squad has been boosted by the return of star playmaker Daniel Arzani, who miss last week’s 0-0 draw with the Central Coast Mariners because of a suspension hanging over from last season’s finals series.

“Danny’s been working really hard on and off the pitch. We know that he’s an important player in our squad, and he adds a different dynamic to our team that we need,” Velupillay said.

“We hope he plays, and he’ll do a job for us.”

Velupillay admitted the Victory’s performance against the Mariners needed to be more “clinical” but that being reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of catptain Roderick Miranda changed how his team played.

“It’s just about being clinical, too. We created our fair share chances,” he said.

“(Miranda’s) red card changed the momentum a bit, so we had to be a bit more defensive in our approach to take the point, but when we were playing with 11 men, we were able to create chances all over the pitch.

“In this league, you’ve got to take them when you have them, and we’ll be looking to do that on Saturday.”