It's not often you can call second versus fourth a David and Goliath battle, but that's exactly what Canberra FC are faced with in their Premier League clash against Canberra Olympic without eight of their regular stars.

Canberra FC have been touted as a title contender, but have been dealt a cruel blow with Robbie Deeley and Nathan Evans facing long stints on the sideline with knee injuries, whilst James Field has only just returned to training from a back problem.

Adrian Brunskill, Josip Jadric, Ryan Keir and Jordan Lamb will all be watching from the stands having succumbed to hamstring injuries. Alongside them will be Michael Mensah, who is suspended after receiving a red card in the team's last fixture.

Canberra FC coach Zoran Glavinic has been forced to promote a number of youngsters against Olympic after last Sunday's bad weather saw their clash with Monaro postponed.

"That's where we were going to introduce some of the new players, some of the young ones," said Glavinic.

"They're going to get an opportunity against Olympic on the weekend."

Glavinic admits the circumstances aren't great, and as a result his side will be looking to the more experienced players to help them over the line.

"The guys on the bench who have been helping out throughout the year, who have been filling some spots, are going to get the opportunity, and some young ones," he said. "We've just got to expect some of those experienced ones to lift to help us get through."

Glavinic remains hopeful, but acknowledges his young side has a massive task ahead of it on Sunday.

"We're always hopeful of winning games. I can't say we're confident but we're hopeful that we can get through and get three points on them. That'll keep us in the top two, because we're currently sitting fourth with a game in hand.

"We obviously want to keep the pressure on Cooma and Olympic – we will be looking at taking points off both of those teams, and obviously Belconnen when they come up in three weeks."

Olympic on the other hand, will be backing up from Wednesday night's FFA Cup semi-final against Belconnen United, with suggestions the short turnaround will harm their preparation.

Glavinic is not convinced. "I don't think it's going to affect them. Maybe physically a little bit in the first 10 or 15 minutes but I don't think it's going to hurt.

"They obviously won't do any training, or they'll do some light stuff tomorrow night or Friday night, or they may even not train. I wouldn't be training if I was playing tonight."

MEN'S NATIONAL PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 11

Saturday: FFA Centre of Excellence v Woden Weston at AIS Grass Field 1, 2pm, Belconnen United v Monaro Panthers at McKellar Park, 5.30pm.

Sunday: CU Academy v Tuggeranong United at Hawker Football Centre, Tigers FC v Gungahlin United at Nijong Oval 1, Canberra Olympic v Canberra FC at O'Connor Enclosed 1.