Muscat happy to be underdog against high-flying Sydney FC

Kevin Muscat says Victory are the underdogs for tonight’s match against A-League frontrunners Sydney FC.

Victory coach Kevin Muscat talks to his players at a training session at AAMI Park yesterday

It’s not often you can play the underdog card after dominating a team for almost three years, but Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has made it clear that’s where his team is at for tonight’s match against A-League front­runners Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.

Forget that Sydney have gone the past nine games against the Victorians without a win and have won just two of their past 11 encounters, Muscat was quick to suggest the unbeaten Sky Blues deserve to be favourites for the Big Blue.

“If you go on the table, yes, they are the standout team,” Muscat said yesterday. “Four wins from four, top of the table, no goals conceded, title favourites, FFA Cup favourites, you name it.

“Will they be cock-a-hoop? They should be. They are the leaders and they can say what they want and everyone has to listen.

“Look, there are other factors as well. They have played three of their four games in NSW. Counting tomorrow, we will have travelled interstate in three of our first five games. We are the underdogs and we will embrace that.”

Having said that, Muscat says he and his players “will have no fears” going to Sydney.

“In and around the group, we all feel that confidence and belief,” he says. “What better way to go there and burst Sydney’s bubble.”

History is on Victory’s side. The last time Sydney beat their ­rivals was in round 17 — a 5-0 thumping away from home — in January, 2014. Muscat said he did not read anything into the statistics.

“Whether it will weigh on Sydney’s mind is not a question for me,” he said. “Ultimately, the only thing that matters will be if we are leading in the 85th minute ... the previous nine games count for nothing. It will be about how we prepare, and that has been great this week.”

Muscat said he was happy with the way the team was performing and was expecting even more from his side after last week’s 6-1 demolition of Wellington.

There were suggestions from some sections of the media and social media that it wasn’t as convincing a performance as the scoreline indicated. That brought a wry smile from Muscat.

“Social media ... what’s that?” he said. “I don’t agree with that. To be honest, we got two deserved penalties, they had a player sent off but we could have scored more.

“I was more than happy with the majority of that performance. What counts is the belief and confidence in the team and that is what we have after last week.”

With Daniel Georgievski sidelined with a fractured collarbone, Muscat also revealed that captain Carl Valeri and new signing Max Beister would also not be part of the squad.

Valeri is still struggling with injury and the Victory boss said he won’t be taking any chances with him. Beister has only been in the country for eight days and is still well short of fitness.

“Max looks good. He is very technical and you can see his quality and how his presence has lifted the players who will be contesting his position,” Muscat said.

“But he needs a bit more time to get his fitness right. We knew that would be the case when we signed him (on loan).”

Meanwhile, controversial striker Kerem Bulut has been restored to the Western Sydney squad for tomorrow’s game against Perth Glory at Nib Stadium.

Bulut was dumped from the squad last week after coach Tony Popovic revealed he was not happy with the way he had been training. But whether he starts or is on the bench against Glory remains to be seen.

“Kerem is back. He has trained better than he did last week,” Popovic said. “But we still have today (Friday) and tomorrow to go training-wise and we will see how things go.”

It’s unlikely Bulut will start given Brendon Santalab, who took his starting spot last week against Central Coast, was on the scoresheet and is in a rich vein of form.