The sky blues jetted out of Sydney on Thursday afternoon just three full days after last Sunday's impressive 1-0 win over Central Coast  Mariners to bag top spot in the A-League.

The performance against their NSW rivals was hailed as a season best and potentially season-defining. The midfield lead by the returning Terry McFlynn was mobile and attack-minded, the backline continued to look composed while  upfront, Alex Brosque and Mark Bridge were lively and pacy on the end of promptings from both Stu Musialik and wily Stevie Corica.  

And with Kofi Danning and Rhyan Grant back in the squad after their Young Socceroos commitments, Lavicka was quietly confident ahead of tonight's blockbuster

"We are going to continue this performance from the last game against Central Coast but we know that every game is different," he told au.fourfourtwo.com. "We have respect for Victory, but I trust our players to be successful."

The confidence was shared by others in the travelling party, including Karol Kisel. The Slovak, who was deployed in a wide midfield role last week, said the players had a similar inkling about the side.

"We had the same feeling and I hope so we will play [like that] not only in this game but for other games in the future and that's how we want to play," said Kisel.

However, Sydney are wisely talking up the merits of Ernie Merrick's squad, including the bonus of having Carlos Hernandez available for selection.

The Costa Rican was a surprise omission from his national side's World Cup qualifiers with Trinidad and Tobago and the US. He was named in an extended squad for the two qualifiers, only for new coach, former Jamaica boss Rene Simoes who guided the Reggae Boyz to World Cup 1998, to omit the Victory playmaker from his final squad.

Lavicka knows full well what threat that will pose.

"Hernandez is very smart, and he can pass and finish behind the box," he said.

Quizzed on whether the Latin playmaker was the best player in the league and the Czech supremo was tight-lipped but added: "Hernandez is a very good player but Victory also have other players especially attacking players who are very good.

"And they have leaders in defence ... Musky and others."

Muscat for his part has been talking up the importance of gaining an early advantage in this blockbuster, set for a 30,000 plus crowd at Etihad stadium.

He told media in Melbourne: "They're coming here to Melbourne, they'll play in front of their biggest crowd of the season and we want to put them to the sword nice and early.

"Get after them, create chances and hopefully take a few more than we've taken in the past weeks."

Sydney FC's returning Young Socceroos joined the travelling squad although Lavicka admitted some - including Kofi Danning - were a little fatigued after their campaign in Egypt, but striker Brendan Gan is over the virus which kept him out of Sunday's 1-0 over the Mariners.