Glory won't know what hit 'em: Muscat

Perth Glory won't know what hit them when Melbourne unleash speedster Mate Dugandzic at ME Bank Stadium on Sunday, according to Victory defender Kevin Muscat.

Dugandzic announced himself on the A-League stage with a memorable brace in last week's 3-1 win over Adelaide.

Muscat said the 20-year-old was one of the quickest players he had ever seen and predicted the fleet-footed striker would combine with fellow pace ace Archie Thompson to cause Perth's defence all sorts of headaches.

"This kid is lightning," Muscat said.

"The first thing you notice is his pace.

"Not only do I mean his running, but his ability to run at speed with the ball is as good as I've seen on a youngster for quite some time.

"He's certainly got something.

"He's a young boy with a level head and great ability and very good application."

Perth coach Dave Mitchell said he was well versed on Dugandzic after trying to lure the talented Victorian to the club a year ago.

"He was on my radar actually," Mitchell revealed.

"A few people told me about him and we monitored him.

"But it was the kind of situation where we needed to have to set things up (like housing) and unfortunately we weren't ready at that stage."

Perth will unleash a dangerman of their own in the form of Serbian striker Branko Jelic.

Jelic scored two opportunistic goals when Perth beat Melbourne 2-1 in round four and Muscat said he would pay close attention to the Glory hitman.

"He's proved he's an opportunist," Muscat said.

"He's someone that needs attention because he's always there or thereabouts and he's got a great nose for goal.

"The second ball has become a priority because he's so good at sensing where it's going to drop."

Perth, coming off a two-game losing streak, will be also boosted by the return of striker Mile Sterjovski and former English Premier League defender Andy Todd.

Melbourne have won five of their past six games, scoring 13 goals during that period.

While Thompson, Carlos Hernandez and now Dugandzic are inflicting the damage on the scoresheet, Muscat said fullback Matthew Kemp deserved a lot of the praise.

"Not only is he a solid defender, but he gives us quite a bit going forward as well in terms of creating opportunities and running people to areas of the pitch where they don't want to be," he said.

"We've always maintained we want to play attacking football.

"Kempy's one of the guys who can cause a lot of problems and he's done that to quite a few teams.

"You would assume because of all that he's not going to be as good defensively but he's as good as anyone going around defensively."

Muscat denied the Glory would hold a mental edge given Melbourne's horrendous record in Perth, where they have lost in their last four visits.