The last time Perth came to Melbourne they thoroughly outclassed City on their way to a comfortable 3-0 win. Taking the lead after Bruno Fornaroli outmuscled Harrison Delbridge – who played his worst game in an otherwise excellent season on the night – and fired home in the 27th minute, Glory were able to masterfully shut down the game and cruise to victory.

It was a perfect example of just how Perth, who have won six straight games heading into Saturday's contest, go about their business, with one Melbourne City player after the game glumly admitting to FTBL that once Glory went 1-0 up the result was a fait accompli.

The result kickstarted a lean run of form that also featured defeats against Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC, reinvigorating discussions around City’s longstanding fragility in big games.

City have only defeated Perth once in their past 11 meetings; their lone triumph arriving back in round 15 of the 2017/18 season thanks to a Ross McCormack brace. Making matters worse, Perth haven’t tasted defeat against City at AAMI Park in their last seven meetings, winning four games and drawing three.

“First we have to do more and better than we have done before,” Mombaerts said on Perth.

“We have the experience of the first game, and I think that we are improving also. We are finding some other solutions to break down their well organised defensive block.

“We started well enough in the first game. If you remember we conceded the first goal was a big mistake of ours. After that it’s not a good scenario, not a good situation to beat. Why? Because they control the game with their defensive block and can play on the counter.

“They scored one goal on a set pieces and in the second half as they dropped back it was more difficult to break through their defensive block.