Adelaide United is unfazed at facing the combination of the A-League's highest scorer and meanest defence in its top-of-the-table clash with Melbourne Victory on Friday night.

Socceroos striker Archie Thompson has included some spectacular efforts among his six goals for third-placed Victory, while its defence has only shipped eight goals over nine rounds.

But United coach John Kosmina was not concerned by Melbourne's defensive record, saying "anybody" from his league-leading team could penetrate the Victory back line while pointing out that Adelaide have only conceded 10 themselves.

"We copped four in one game as well, so our defence is probably as mean as Melbourne's," Kosmina said.

"Those four goals also came from mistakes and not from anybody being able to unlock our defence."

The Adelaide boss said that his team would go into the match at Melbourne's Olympic Park on the attack, rather than trying to neutralise the threat from Thompson.

"We are not going to try and contain Melbourne, we are going to try and win the game," Kosmina said.

"Look we want to stay on top and that's motivation itself for the players, the boys really want to stay top of the table.

Victory mentor Ernie Merrick is looking for his team to recover from Sunday's lacklustre performance, going down 2-1 away to Perth Glory, which cost them the chance to climb to the top of the ladder.

Merrick puts the loss, only his second of the season, down to a frustrating trend that he says has crept into Victory's playing style during their travels.

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