Sydney closes in on rare double

Blues look to repeat feat

It’s a new take on the old question of what you give someone who has everything. How do you drive a team that has won everything?

The answer lies in these statistics which show how uncannily similar Sydney FC’s record this season is to the allconquering campaign last time.

Just a point down on 12 months ago, the team have conceded more goals but scored even more.

Last year they were chasing a record-breaking points haul, reeling in the 65 points that Brisbane Roar had accrued in a season that was three games longer.

Remarkably, 12 months on they are on track to emulate that feat and even beat it.

These are the targets that Graham Arnold is using to motivate his team. Beating your own record is potent enough, but Sydney have another target. No side has won the double in consecutive years.

That Brisbane side backed up championships, but not Premier’s Plates.

Last year the debate was vociferous over which side could claim the mantle of being the A-League’s greatest. By early May we may have a definitive answer. Arnold has challenged his side to provide it.

For the rest of the league, it’s a depressing case of deja vu. If there is to be any hope of catching Sydney, it has to begin to-

night against Melbourne City.

Against a side that has solidified its hold on third with a run of 14 points in six games, this is one of the two biggest tests that Arnold’s side must navigate in the season’s final rounds.

City have a point to make against Sydney too, after three straight defeats against the Sky Blues since September starting with an abject display in the FFA Cup.

They have lost Ross McCormack, but the sight of Bruno Fornaroli scoring in a scratch game against Guangzhou R&F this week was a welcome one for any neutral observer, let alone City’s supporters.

Fornaroli may be on the bench tonight, desperate to begin his A-League season after the crude tackle that broke his ankle in the FFA Cup and left him in rehab for months.

But armed with their unbreakable self-belief, Sydney will throw their brilliant forward line at City in the expectation they will take another step towards retaining the Premier’s Plate.

After this, only the trip to Newcastle looks like a challenge that might seriously test Sydney.