The Sky Blues will receive the Premier’s Plate after Saturday’s home match against Newcastle Jets having run away with the title over the regular season.

During Arnold’s time as Central Coast coach in 2012, he said he placed more value on the Premier’s Plate than winning the Grand Final but his tune has changed.

The Sydney boss recently said his side wouldn’t celebrate the premiership, ensuring a steely focus on winning the championship, which he maintains.

“I don’t think you can split the two,” Arnold said.

“One is for the most consistent and the best team. The team who’s prepared properly over 27 weeks and who’s performed best over 27 weeks.

“The other one is a knockout competition of the six best teams.

“Obviously there’s prestige on both trophies but I think it’s disrespectful if people downgrade the premiership trophy.

“It’s something that has been rewarded for 27 weeks of hard work and good performance.

“I know probably seven coaches out of 10 know the premiership is very important.”

Arnold called for more respect and prestige for winning the premiership, while he added that he had no issue with the presence of a finals series to decide the ‘champion club’.

“It’s the Australian way, we know that,” he said.

“In the other sporting codes, it’s the same.

“I had the privilege of winning the championship with the Mariners and it’s a great feeling.

“It’s a very important trophy and it’s no different.

“We need to respect the premiership as a massive feat as well.

“It puts you in a good positon in the finals series, we don’t have to travel. You get rewarded in that way.”

Meanwhile, Arnold also said there was no update on contract talks with star Milos Ninkovic nor any of his four other visa players.

“Every club probably has 10-12 players off contract, we’re probably further ahead than other clubs, where we’ve signed what we wanted to retain,” he said.

“All five foreign players are off contract. They don’t really want to even speak about it at the moment.

“We have a long off-season, they just want to win.”