And that begins on Saturday night against arch-rivals Melbourne Victory.

City slumped nine points behind Sydney with a 3-1 defeat last Friday night, denting their title hopes.

But their first-half performance at Allianz Stadium left little doubt among Warren Joyce's men that they deserve to be at the pointy end of the table.

When Luke Brattan's goal put City ahead, City looked on to be the first team to beat Sydney at Allianz Stadium since April last year.

But two lightning-quick goals in the shadow of half-time and Manny Muscat's second-half red card put paid to that.

Reinstated gloveman Dean Bouzanis said the result didn't reflect their performance, and City would keep on striving.

"Why can't we win the premiership?" he said.

"Okay, Sydney beat us on the weekend and they're nine points clear but we're only 11 games in. There's a long way to go.

"This club is all about winning things and bringing trophies to the City Football Group.

"It's a massive organisation and throughout the whole organisation it's about winning trophies.

"We want to get into the Asian Champions League as well. It's a massive competition we want to be a part of ... if we hit our peak at the end of the year then we can hopefully lift a trophy."

Bouzanis is back as City's No.1 after a back injury to Eugene Galekovic earlier this month.

In the three games since, he's made 11 saves and looked worthy of keeping A-League legend Galekovic on the bench.

On Saturday, he'll confront not only City's biggest rivals, but the memory of his worst moment in the league.

In February, City threw away a lead to lose the derby 2-1 with two late goals - and Bouzanis earned a five-match ban for racially slurring match-winner Besart Berisha.

Bouzanis said he'd moved on from the incident and hoped others - including fans with long memories - had too.

"Me and Bes are fine. I've spoke to him and apologised to him. It was in the heat of the moment," he said.

"I shook his hand and that was the end of it.

"The fans are the fans. They've got their own opinions and that's fine.

"There's a true rivalry here. Victory were the first team in the league and a special club like Melbourne City comes in with the resources we have and the players we've attracted to the club, we've brought a massive rivalry to the city."