Stefan Nigro could retain his position at right-back after an impressive debut last week in Victory’s 4-0 win over Brisbane Roar.
Olyroo defenders Jason Geria and Scott Galloway are unlikely to play against Sydney FC, opening up the possibility that Nigro could again start.
The pair arrived yesterday morning and were assessed by the medical staff.
They didn’t train yesterday but had a run around this morning but are highly unlikely to be involved tomorrow in the Big Blue.
Nigro will come under pressure from Daniel Georgievski, however, who is back from suspension, while Nick Ansell could be ready to start against the Sky Blues.
“Stef come in for some individual praise and rightly so. He comes in where expectation, I suppose, is at a minimum and then he performs really well, so we get really excited about it, ” Victory boss Kevin Muscat said.
“But he did do well. We’ve got some more options – Nick Ansell got another 30 minutes under his belt, so all of a sudden we’ve got some bodies back and we’ve got some decisions to make.”
Victory v Sydney FC: 3 key match ups
Victory could move as high as third if they notch a third consecutive triumph over Sydney.
And Muscat confirmed he has seen a change in his team’s attitude since their second half comeback against Central Coast Mariners on January 8.
Muscat’s men trailed 3-0 at half-time against the Mariners but fought back to draw and carried that momentum into their big win against Brisbane.
“There’s been a definite shift. Certain things, I suppose, creep in and you start believing in yourself a little bit more than you should and therefore you stop working as hard,” Muscat said.
“Did I see we were going to 3-0 down at half-time [against Central Coast]? Probably not but we weren’t anywhere near where we should be in terms of our attitude.
“It’s like cold water hitting you in the face in that first half [going down 3-0 against Mariners].
Muscat added: “If your attitude’s not right, everything else – ability – is worth not much.”
