Sydney FC’s derby win over Western Sydney has set up a potential A-League grand final preview against the high-flying Newcastle Jets.
The Sky Blues downed Western Sydney 3-1 on a wet night at Allianz Stadium on Sunday night thanks to an Adrian Mierzejewski masterclass.
Graham Arnold’s men maintained their 11-point advantage at the top of the table heading into Saturday night’s clash with the second-placed Jets in Newcastle. A win over Newcastle would give Sydney the chance to secure the premier’s plate the following week.
Wanderers took the lead when Oriol Riera tapped home from an Andrew Redmayne mistake before Mierzejewski equalised just before half-time with an exquisite free kick.
The Polish midfielder then put the Sky Blues in front 10 minutes into the second half before Bobo sealed the result after good build up from Milos Ninkovic.
Arnold was adamant after the game that his side were by far the dominant team in the derby.
“Everyone thinks [the Wanderers] will be competitive but at the end of the day the stats don’t lie. It’s a pretty lopsided derby, the most lopsided out of all the derbies. In 14 games, we’ve lost one… we’re better than them. It’s simple,” Arnold said.
“We’re going for history. First goal is always to get to 50 points to guarantee top two. There are still six games to go and there’ll be no foot off the pedal. We’re going for the points tally record again.
“We do a lot research around our foreigners and we’ve got four fantastic ones here. The recruitment is the key element to the success.
“You go down one nil and there’s no panic. It’s like the players think we’ve been here before and we know we’ll get three or four.”
