Melbourne City recruit Carl Jenkinson can feel the similarity between his days at English giants Arsenal and the A-League Men's champions' daunting April schedule.
Jenkinson regularly spent his time with the Gunners playing against rivals such as Manchester United and Liverpool before backing up on massive European nights such as Arsenal's 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in Germany in 2013.
Having struggled for regular football in the past 12 months before arriving in Australia, Jenkinson says City's upcoming matches are exactly the sort of games he missed being a part of.
The league leaders welcome Sydney FC to AAMI Park on Wednesday in a grand final rematch before a derby clash with Melbourne Victory on Saturday.
After that the team heads to Thailand for City's inaugural Asian Champions League campaign, where they'll play six group stage matches before returning for the end of the ALM season in May.
"I love that to be honest," Jenkinson said.
"The past couple of years I haven't played as much as I would have liked so to be here now in this situation and they feel like big games.
"Obviously Sydney is a massive game and the derby and then off to the Champions League, that's big game after big game and it's exciting.
"It's what I've needed and what I've wanted on a personal level for while."
City's 6-0 thrashing of Wellington Phoenix last weekend means they now hold a five-point lead at the top of the ladder with four games to play in the regular season.
Sydney, in contrast, are battling to keep in the finals positions with their 3-2 derby win over Western Sydney last weekend keeping them fifth - one of three teams locked on 28 points in what is becoming a tight race for the top six.
The Sky Blues will head south without suspended Socceroo Rhyan Grant who was sent off late against the Wanderers.
Goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne remains unavailable after testing positive to COVID-19 but Tom Heward-Belle is set to return from the concussion issue that ruled him out for the Wanderers game.
"They gave us a good game for sure up in Sydney and there was spells where they were very good," Jenkinson said of the Sky Blues.
"We was deserved winners on that day but we know it's going to be a difficult game, 100 per cent.
"Sydney's another challenge that we need to come through."
