Western Sydney Wanderers' coach Tony Popovic insists his high-flying squad is too grounded to get carried away with the hype surrounding their remarkable debut A-League season.
Having started the year in the shadow of their much-hyped city rivals Sydney FC, the Wanderers are fourth on the competition ladder while the Sky Blues, who Western Sydney dispatched 2-0 a fortnight ago, are languishing at the bottom of the ladder.
The Wanderers, who play Perth away on Thursday, underlined their title credentials with a 6-1 thumping of second-placed Adelaide last week to chalk up three consecutive wins for the first time in the fledgling club's history.
Popovic was asked on Boxing Day if it would be a challenge for him to deal with the high expectations on his team just six months on from their formation.
"No, I don't think so. I think the players are obviously full of confidence but they're a very grounded group," said Popovic at Sydney Airport ahead of the flight to Perth.
"As a group, we never got too despondent when we weren't scoring when we had a bad period of results.
"Our key principle was the performance and, if we believe in our performances, if they're playing well, the results will come.
"They've had a taste now of three wins in a row which is not easy to do in this league and they look hungry for more."
Fifth-placed Perth enter the match also on a high following back-to-back wins over Newcastle and Brisbane.
But the club's run of form is in stark contrast to the corresponding period last year, when coach Ian Ferguson's job was on the line after Perth entered the Christmas break on the back of three straight losses.
The Glory bounced back from that rot to reach last season's grand final, but Ferguson is taking nothing for granted ahead of their clash with the in-form Wanderers, who upset Perth 1-0 at nib Stadium in November.
"They are a very strong and powerful side who are quick on the counter-attack," Ferguson said.
"And Mark Bridge is on fire at the moment as well, so it's going to be a very tough game."
Perth will be without suspended left back Scott Jamieson after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season last week, but Ferguson said he had always planned to make changes to his squad anyway.
"We're considering freshening things up," he said.
"It's going to be a very tough period with three games within ten days or so, so we're going to have to use our squad and we'll look to do that this week."
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