Sydney FC are undefeated since the January break, collecting 13 points from a possible 15, but coach Graham Arnold isn't daring to dream of silverware just yet.

Any talk of a title will not happen until after six more games at the absolute earliest given the Sky Blues' rigid set of goals implemented by Arnold. They have won four from their last five games to move within four points of the top of the table, gathering momentum at the right end of the season, but Sydney FC still have not achieved their first targets.

Reaching 39 points – their final standing of last season – remains the first goal and one they set themselves the challenge of achieving as quickly as possible. That can be sealed in just three games' time. From then they will have to reach 50 points before any talk of a title can echo throughout the dressing room.

"I'm not even thinking about [a title]," Arnold said. "Our first goal was to get more points than what Sydney FC got last year – 39 points so that's been the first challenge for the players. After that, whenever we got to 39 points it's been about how quickly we can get to 45 points.

"I don't talk about places on the table, I'd rather talk to the players and challenge them to getting as many points as quickly as we can...  I challenged the boys that we concede less than 30 goals over 27 games, I challenged them to get double figures in terms of clean sheets. At the moment we're on track to get our goals."

Sydney are outright favourites to extend their unbeaten streak against Newcastle Jets on Friday night but Arnold is wary of a resurgence of the club ranked second-last on the A-League table. Although Newcastle have won just once this season, Arnold has been impressed with their performances since the January break, which coincided with a clean-out of players and coaches following an attempted revolt.

"It's going to be a tough game, from what I've seen, they've improved out of sight in the last month or so and Phil Stubbins has been through an extremely tough time up there but we can only worry about ourselves and what we do. We're going up there with the right mentality to give our best performance and make sure we keep our standards high," Arnold said.

Terry Antonis will start in place of the suspended Mickael Tavares, while Matt Jurman will start at left back in place of Alex Gersbach who is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season.

The right back role has been openly contested in recent weeks and Arnold says he still is unsure who will start and will wait until game day before making his selection. "Seb Ryall is a natural right back, it's whether we put Aaron Calver next to Nikola at stopper or put Seb Ryall back in the centre. We can also Calver or Rhyan Grant at right back," Arnold said.