Josh Brillante isn't calling the A-League premiership a one-horse race just yet but the Sydney FC midfielder believes it will take "something crazy" for the Sky Blues not to have their hands on the next trophy on offer this season.
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Sydney FC opened-up a comfortable lead at the top of the A-League table with a 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar on Monday night. Their lead over second-place Newcastle Jets will be anywhere between eight to 11 points by the end of round 15, pending Newcastle's result against Central Coast Mariners on Tuesday night.
However, even if it is cut to eight points, the Sky Blues believe the Premiers' Plate is theirs to take. Having lost just once this season and won 12 of their 15 games thus far, Brillante says it is unlikely a challenger will be able to close the gap in the remaining 12 games of the season.
"The way I see it, we're up front and we expect to win every game. So if we win every game then nobody is going to touch us. It's going to take something crazy for someone to catch us and beat us with the way we've been playing. We've still got a couple of more gears to go," Brillante said. "There's still plenty games to be played. We can only control what we do, play well and take the three points."
The Sky Blues' grip on the summit of the league makes them the team to beat this season but Brillante dismissed the pressure that comes with being the hunted.
"We've had that target on our back for the past year and a half so we just take it on board like it's a normal thing for us. We just go in and take it each week with the same standards," he said.
Their dominant 3-0 win in Brisbane was their biggest-ever win away to the Roar at a venue they've traditionally struggled at. Sydney had won just once in their past 15 games in Brisbane and it was just their fourth win in 18 visits to the Queensland capital. To overcome their historical troubles in Brisbane while heaping pressure on their challengers has given the team a further confidence boost at a time when they seemingly don't need one.
"It's important. It shows for us [we can] go play away games like that ??? to get the three points is a huge help and takes the pressure off a little bit," Brillante said.
"It's a great position for us to be in, a bit of space between second space. It's still halfway through the season, a lot of games to be played so for us it's a matter of working hard."
