Glory coach Dave Mitchell is refusing to count his side out against the highflying Melbourne Victory, despite star striker Nikita Rukavytsya coming into Saturday's match under an injury cloud.
Mitchell said Rukavytsya, the Hyundai A-League's joint second top scorer with eight goals, was only a '50-50' proposition after feeling calf tightness on Thursday night.
The 21-year-old received physio on his calf while the rest of Perth's squad trained on Friday morning and will be subject to a late fitness test just hours before the evening kick-off at Members Equity Stadium.
But Mitchell refused to write his side off in the event Rukavytsya missed, saying the club has the depth to cover the loss.
"It's disappointing, it just sort of came out of the blue really and that's unfortunate," Mitchell said on Friday.
"But we have a lot of players to pick from and they're looking for a chance."
"It's happened a few times in the past, people think, 'he's not playing and he's not playing', and their star players may be missing, but the replacement does really well because he's hungry and fits in."
Mitchell said he had several other options up front, suggesting Adrian Trinidad may partner either Eugene Dadi or Jamie Harnwell in the forward third, with Nick Rizzo to occupy the left midfield position Trinidad's played in the last two matches.
Naum Sekulovski also returns to the squad from injury and may slot into the side at left back, where he's played much of the season, or be used in a more forward position.
But, while Mitchell has some shuffling to do, his opposite number, Victory coach Ernie Merrick has the luxury of a full list to choose from as midfielder Evan Berger has recovered from a hamstring injury.
Mitchell, though, says he welcomes the opportunity to take on a full Victory side at Members Equity Stadium, as the Glory have only been beaten once on their home patch this season, by Queensland in Round 4.
"They're coming fully loaded and it will be a challenge for us but one that we're relishing," Mitchell said.
"If we beat them, then we can say we beat the best team (and) we don't fear anyone."
"If we win tomorrow, we're only a couple of wins out of the top four and we feel we're playing well enough to beat teams."
"We just have to be a bit more lethal," he said, referring to last weekend's 2-2 draw with Central Coast, where the Glory failed to put away numerous chances to go 3-1 up before the Mariners caught them with an injury-time equaliser.
The Glory will be boosted by the fact Melbourne is coming across to Perth just one week after a long road-trip to Wellington, where a lacklustre Victory side went down to the Phoenix 2-1.