Soccer - Victory play waiting game after handing Sydney four-goal loss

Melbourne Victory coach Tony Popovic and his players face a nervous wait to see if they have completed a remarkable turnaround to claim the A-League Premiers Plate after handing bitter rivals Sydney FC a 4-1 thrashing on Saturday.

Victory finished bottom last season but will be crowned A-League premiers if Melbourne City fail to defeat Wellington Phoenix on Monday and Western United are unable to beat Adelaide United by six goals in the regular season's final round.

"We've done our part, we handled the pressure very well," said Popovic, whose side are two points clear of reigning champions City and a further point ahead of Western United.

"We got the desired result, we scored four goals at a place that we haven't won as a club in a long time. It's out of our hands now, but we'll wait and see what happens in the next few days."

Victory maintained the pressure on the teams around them with their first win against a struggling Sydney side in more than three years as Melbourne look for a first A-League premiership since 2015.

"I'm thrilled," said Popovic, whose side have now gone 15 A-League games without defeat. "We knew we needed a big performance today, and I thought the players delivered from the start to the end, scoring four goals away from home."

The team's position "is a fantastic performance and achievement from everyone at the club, from the chairman down. Everyone should be very happy with how we finished the regular season," he said.

Whatever the outcome of the remaining games in the regular season, Victory have earned their place in the finals phase of the competition. Popovic expressed confidence his team can continue to impress.

"I always feel there's more to come from this group," he said. "We're scoring goals