Perth Glory defender John Koutroumbis says his team are fired up to prove the doubters wrong as the A-League Men club attempts to snap a 13-month winless run on the road.
Glory's last win away from home came on October 23 last year when they beat Central Coast 2-1.
They have gone 13 games without a win on the road since then, including losses to Wellington, Western Sydney and Brisbane this season.
Glory have the chance to snap that drought in Saturday's clash with Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium, and Koutroumbis says his team is fired up for the task.
"There is a stigma that every time we go away from home, we're expected to lose," Koutroumbis said.
"We definitely want to break that stigma. It's something we always talk about, especially before games.
"We emphasise that people are already doubting us even before we get on the pitch.
"It fires us up. It's a positive thing, too.
"We're not here miserable and feeling sorry for ourselves. It actually puts fire in our bellies."
The 10th-placed Sky Blues have lost their two home games this season, including last week's 1-0 defeat to Western Sydney.
That match marked the second game in charge for new Sydney coach Ufuk Talay following the sacking of Steve Corica.
Talay says it's important for his team to beat Glory on Saturday to kick-start a strong run of results at home.
"We need to win our home games," Talay said.
"We need to turn our home into a fortress. We need to win every home game we play, and teams need to fear coming to play us away."
Sydney have lost only two of their past 21 games against Perth, with the Sky Blues winning 16 of those matches and posting three draws in a remarkable run of dominance against Glory.
Koutroumbis says Glory will be on alert for Sydney danger duo Robert Mak and Joe Lolley.
Sydney will be without forward Jaiden Kucharski due to injury.
"He's got a tight hamstring, so we weren't risking him for this weekend," Talay said.
Glory have lost two games on the trot, but coach Alen Stajcic described last week's 2-1 defeat to Brisbane as an anomaly due to the terrible shape of the Suncorp Stadium pitch.
"It was just horrendous," Stajcic said.
"It was probably the worst pitch I've ever seen in 30 years of coaching and playing.
"It was basically a mud bath."
