Victory and Adelaide open the matchday with their second contest of the season, after their first battle ended 1-1 at the Adelaide Oval in October.
Fresh from scoring his first goals in an Adelaide shirt in their 2-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners on Sunday, forward Pablo Sanchez said he was anticipating a tough clash at AAMI Park in Melbourne.
"We know that it will be a very important match for us and for them as well," Sanchez said of the match pitting the second (Adelaide) against third.
"We need to follow the same line and keep improving because we are winning but we need more of the same."
"If you want to get back in the race you can't afford to make mistakes," Thijssen said ahead of his bow as stand-in coach.
"I like players who are good on the ball.
"Hopefully we can start playing. I like to play football from defence.
"We have to have good players who don't lose balls."
Graham Arnold's Sydney FC are unbeaten in seven games, however, and will look to prolong Western Sydney's Asian title hangover.
John van 't Schip's City sit in sixth, three points behind Wellington, with the latter having lost three of their past four after a promising start to the campaign.
Wrapping up the weekend's action is a battle of the two strugglers in the F3 derby between the Mariners and the winless Newcastle Jets.
