Melbourne Victory head coach Kevin Muscat says he will not take any risks with his squad in what shapes as a crucial week on the road.
Victory arrived in New Zealand on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s Round 7 catch-up game against Wellington Phoenix at Westpac Stadium.
From Wellington, the team will travel back to Melbourne for 48 hours before flying to Western Australia for Saturday night’s meeting with Perth Glory.
Second-placed Victory faces Phoenix on the back of a six-game winning streak, including a 3-2 defeat of Brisbane Roar in its most recent outing.
“At this point in time, we’re very, very healthy and fit, but we’ll give ourselves another 24 hours to assess,” Muscat said on Monday.
“We’ve near enough come across with the same 16.
“There’s just a good vibe about the place and when you’re winning, it’s unbelievable, no one seems to feel tired.
“But at the same time we won’t take any risks with anybody.”
Besart Berisha is free to play for Victory after his dismissal against Brisbane was overturned on Sunday.
“It is common sense because the fact we played 30 minutes with 10 men I thought was punishment enough,” Muscat said.
“Fortunately this time it didn’t affect the result, so I’m not going to dwell on it too much.
“Everybody makes mistakes, but what’s important is there’s the system in place, they’ve gone back and had a look at it and rescinded the suspension.
“So we move on. It’s great we’ve got a full quota for the next week or two.”
Tuesday’s game against Wellington will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 505 from 5.30pm AEDT, with kick-off at 5.45pm AEDT.
