While the Sky Blues will know their fate ahead of kick off against Adelaide United at Allianz Stadium, Head Coach Graham Arnold said he’s still expecting a competitive clash against the Reds.
With the Sky Blues chasing a finals series berth and Adelaide eyeing off a Premiers Plate, Arnold said he’s confident his squad can deliver the three points in the penultimate clash of the Hyundai A-League regular season.
“Any team I put out on the field that’s representing Sydney FC, we have to give our best effort and we will,” Arnold said.
“We’ll approach it like any other game, at the moment our destiny is out of our own hands and we have to rely on other results.
“We want to win it for ourselves as well as the fans,” he continued.
“Adelaide are probably in the position that we want to be in but with the tough period we’ve had with the heavy schedule, and in my view that we’ve had too many draws.
“Out of the 10 draws we’ve had we should have won eight of them , and that’s probably hurt our season.
“We’ve got to go out there and respect the A-League and we’ll go out there to do everything to damage Adelaide’s chances of winning the Premiers Plate.”
The Sky Blues take on Pohang Steelers three days after their round 27 clash and Arnold said the visit of the Koreans was at the back of his mind too as he revealed his goals for the Sky Blues AFC Champions League 2016 campaign.
“With the short turnaround the Champions League game at Allianz against Pohang is also at the back of my mind,” Arnold said.
“It’s an honour to play in the Champions League even though it’s tough with the scheduling but I’m trying to deliver something to the Sydney FC fans that they’ve never had and that’s the last 16 of the Asian Champions League.
“It was a big focus for myself at the start of the season to try and get through this period and also do well in the Champions League because Sydney FC have never had that before.
“It’s been five years since we played in the Champions League, [we’ve] never made the second round, and that’s something I’ve focussed on to deliver.”
Sydney FC take on Adelaide United tomorrow at Allianz Stadium (kick off 7:30pm). Catch the match live on Fox Sports 4, listen live on ABC Grandstand or follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for updates.
