Sydney warmed up for Wednesday’s match against K-League outfit Suwon Bluewings with a 4-0 drubbing of Melbourne City on Saturday night.

Defender Jordy Buijs was once again immense at the back, despite the disappointment of missing the cut for Sydney’s ACL squad.

Rules permit only three imports and the Dutchman lost out to attacking triumvirate Bobo, Milos Ninkovic and Adrian Mierzejewski. All three were on the scoresheet at AAMI Park.

Arnold told Fox Sports post-match: “I want to give special credit to Jordy Buijs.

“It was a very hard decision for me and he was very disappointed, he was down, but you saw by his performance tonight that first and foremost he thinks about the team.

“And he was great.”

Arnold said the focus would now turn to the ACL.

“The boys are excited,” he said. “We haven’t really spoken too much about the champions league over the last week.

“The focus has been on coming down here and winning against Melbourne.  Tomorrow we’ll crank it up, we’ll look at Suwon and get the boys ready for Wednesday night."

Sydney will be able to avoid the excessive travel that crippled other A-League participants, with six of their remaining domestic matches in NSW.

Arnold added: “I think we’re in fantastic group – Suwon  and Shanghai Shenhua were both Cup winners, so they didn’t win their leagues.

“Obviously (Kashima) Antlers will be a tough test for us but look we’re in great shape.  FFA have given the split round weekend so we’ll be able to manage both competitions very well.”