Melbourne City have set up a colossal derby with Western United after dispatching Macarthur Bulls 3-1 at AAMI Park on Wednesday evening.
Returning to the top of the ALM table thanks to an own goal from Adrian Mariappa and strikes from Florin Berenguer and Jamie Maclaren, it was City's fourth win in five games.
Second-place Western, however, have two games in hand heading into the battle of the Melburnian teams this Saturday, significantly raising the stakes for coach Patrick Kisnorbo's squad.
Conversely, their second loss in a row means Macarthur have missed the chance to jump to third.
They will now look to regroup in a western Sydney derby against the Wanderers this weekend.
The early signs looked good for City, but after 15 minutes the Bulls went ahead.
Craig Noone's delivery into the area spilled off a charging Adrian Mariappa and, with goalkeeper Matt Sutton caught in no man's land, fell into the path of Apostolos Giannou for an easy finish.
Sutton was making his first start this season after Tom Glover was dropped by Kisnorbo after City surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw with Perth Glory last week.
For all the talk of possible defensive weaknesses this campaign, there's never been any doubt about City's attacking ability and they drew level in the 28th minute when Mariappa inadvertently turned Maclaren's attempted cutback into his own net.
Berenguer's quick reaction in the 44th when he pounced on Andrew Nabbout's cross after it bounced off Maclaren to fire into an empty net ensured City took the lead into the break.
Noudi Najjar then bundled over Marco Tilio in the 54th and Maclaren converted from the spot to secure victory.
Substitute Liam Rose should have dragged one back late but put his open chance wide.
