Brisbane Roar could be in the firing line as Sydney FC seek to snap out of their form slump at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
The Sky Blues enter the match two weeks on from their surprise 2-1 defeat to a 10-man Newcastle Jets.
It was just their second loss of the 2017/18 Season and third since the beginning of last term, while only a lone point was taken from two subsequent AFC Champions League meetings with Kashima Antlers.
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What kind of reaction can we expect on their return to the domestic scene they have dominated for almost 18 months?
PAUSE THE PANIC ALARM
If a single slip-up wasn’t rare enough, the prospect of back-to-back defeats for this Sydney FC team is almost unthinkable.
Indeed, the Sky Blues haven’t dropped two straight Hyundai A-League matches since late in the 2015/16 Season.
The first was a 3-2 loss in Brisbane in Round 25, before Adelaide United arrived and left with all three points the following weekend.
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Those games were the final two instalments of an 11-match winless stretch as Perth Glory were dispatched 4-0 in Round 27, a sign of what was to evolve the following campaign.
Ominously, that success against Perth kick-started an undefeated streak of 20 matches that powered the club to a premiership-championship double.
So even if Roar can open up more wounds, there is no guarantee the Sky Blues won’t return twice as strong.
THE IDEAL OPPONENT
Sydney FC have made a habit of creating history and are on the verge of another new milestone against John Aloisi’s men.
Should they secure a result at Allianz Stadium, the champions will have recorded a club-record sixth successive match without defeat against Brisbane.
They have won three and drawn two of the current one-sided sequence.
Arnold, meanwhile, has won four of his last six home league games against the Sunshine State outfit, losing just once in that time.
And if there is any hint of lingering lethargy, the buzz of a Queensland-New South Wales grudge match should induce Sydney FC’s ruthless best.
