Adelaide United aims to be looking down from the mountain and putting the pressure on Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory to respond after the game against Melbourne City.
City aims to be putting the pressure on Brisbane to respond by leap-frogging Roar back into the top six.
Adelaide is in third place on 33 points - level on points with second-placed Victory and two behind leader Perth Glory. A win would put it on top ahead of Glory's home game against Brisbane on Saturday and Victory's home game against Wellington on Sunday.
City only needs a draw to rise from seventh to sixth - at least temporarily - but it really needs to start winning. Sixth-placed Roar and seventh-placed City are both on 21 points, but Roar has a game in hand on City after last weekend's home wash-out against Victory.
We're coming down to the business end of the season and the heat is on. City's Erik Paartalu and Adelaide's Jimmy Jeggo readily admit there is a lot riding on this game.
PAARTALU ON THE COMPETITION TABLE
"If we're being perfectly honest, then now is probably the time when we look at the table, with 10 games left for us before the finals and Brisbane with an extra catch-up game.
"I think it will probably come down to the last couple of weeks to sort it all out, but hopefully we're getting our own results and controlling our own destiny.
"We have to be sensible with our targets, but for this club to be in the finals series is very important."
JEGGO ON THE CHANCE TO GO TOP
"We talk about taking each game as it comes and this weekend if we can get the three points it would be nice for the first time this season to be able to sit back and put the pressure on the other teams.
"Most of the year we've been chasing Victory and Perth. If we get the job done against City we can go top and see what happens. Victory has a game in hand on us and Perth, but it still has to win it. We can only worry about ourselves."
Injuries and suspension will have a major effect on the line-ups for this game.
City has lost in-form midfielder Jacob Melling to injury on top of several others - Damien Duff, Robbie Wielaert, James Brown and Mate Dugandzic - already being out.
Adelaide is without one of its most creative players - Isaias - due to suspension and central defender Osama Malik is out injured.
Nigel Boogaard, who normally partners Malik in the central defence, was already out injured, meaning Adelaide will have to field a makeshift combination there - Dylan McGown and perhaps Tarek Elrich.
City's former Socceroos striker Josh Kennedy will surely see this an opportunity for him. He has been in the team for three games now - one off the bench and the last two starting - and although he is yet to score a goal he has looked more likely with each outing.
PAARTALU ON KENNEDY
"Josh came here with a couple of fitness issues and it took him a while to get up and running, but he was very impressive in his home debut last week and for a big man he's got some fancy feet on him.
"He's a great character as well. He puts the guys at ease, but at game time he's serious. That's what you want from your forward players, you want to see someone chasing and holding up the ball and winning fouls and being aggressive and he brings that to the squad."
JEGGO ON KENNEDY
"He's a threat for sure, one of the best they've got. He gives them another strength in the air and he'll be closely marked. We've got to stop him, but we've also got to stop the supply line to him."
Adelaide United is the second-highest scoring team in the competition, with 33 goals in 18 games, but there has been plenty of focus on the number of chances it has missed.
It tends to be off target a lot, but it creates so many opportunities that it has still finished enough of them off to be challenging for the lead.
City has scored just 22 goals in 17 games and none in its last three. It would like Adelaide's problem.
Midfielder Aaron Mooy will once again be key to City's hopes of setting up chances. Adelaide, even without Isaias, still has plenty of creativity in Marcelo Carrusca, Jeggo and others.
PAARTALU ON MOOY AND ADELAIDE'S CREATIVITY
"Aaron's probably been our most consistent player this season. Coming from the Wanderers to here has given him a different attitude. It's a new lease of life for him and he's carried that form throughout the season.
"He's our go-to man, a free spirit who can really change the game with a pass, a shot or a goal.
"It's going to be a lot of work for us in the midfield this week. There's a lot of quality in the Adelaide side, but as much as you want to concentrate on shutting them down you've got to remember you have to make them work when they haven't got the ball as well.
"If you do make a mistake against them they're more than likely going to punish you, so you have to take that little bit of extra care and make your passes count and be careful about where you are on the pitch.
"I think we have to be really aggressive defensively and then try to give them problems going forward."
JEGGO ON MOOY AND ADELAIDE'S UNDERSTANDING
"City are a very dangerous team. They chase the ball hard and Mooy has had a great season. He's one of their best players. We have to look to shut him down and them down as a team, as well. On their day they can beat anyone and they've got a lot of attacking weapons. Mooy's one of them.
"We work very hard on the way we play. We've got movements we work on that come up in games and when you've got players who are so creative and so intelligent in their movement, like 'Chelo' (Carrusca), when they take the lead everyone else knows what to do.
"Players know where they're supposed to go when someone else makes a run. I wouldn't say it's scripted, but we look for certain things. If someone does something, the rest of us know how to react."
SUMMARY
Adelaide has been dominant over City, wherever the games have been played.
In 13 overall clashes, Adelaide has won six times and City just twice. The last five overall have seen two Adelaide wins and three draws. The last five in Melbourne have seen three Adelaide wins, a City win and a draw. The only clash this season saw a 2-1 win to Adelaide in Melbourne.
City hasn't beaten Adelaide at home for 25 months.
All of that obviously doesn't look good for City, but because of the players Adelaide has out there must be a chance for City in this game.
Much will depend on City's attitude. If it is too conservative, too reactive rather than proactive, chances are Adelaide will eventually come and get it. If City branches out, it can make a real game of it at home.
