A victory over FC Goa boosting their confidence, two-time champions Chennaiyin FC would look for another positive result when they take on a winless SC East Bengal in their Indian Super League match at Tilak Maidan in Goa on Saturday.
The league resumes on Saturday after a two-day break for Christmas.
Chennaiyin are meeting the Kolkata side for the first time and they would hope to continue the momentum after beating a strong FC Goa on December 19.
A win would propel CFC into the top half of the standings.
SC East Bengal, on the other hand, are still searching for a win after six matches. They have scored just three goals and conceded 11.
Also, luck has not been on their side though their performance has improved in the last two games.
Coach Robbie Fowler will be hoping that his men will come up with a better performance and notch up a win.
He insisted that his players had put behind the disappointment of allowing Kerala Blasters to snatch a draw with a late equaliser in their last match.
“The morale that we got here has been good,” he said, adding “at times, we’ve been unlucky”.
“It’s totally unfortunate that you’re conceding goals at the last minute. But the lads played really well and we created a lot of chances. We could have won the game quite convincingly. But football is like that,” Fowler said on the eve of the game.
CFC will be wary of the threat SC East Bengal poses as the Kolkata team motivated to get its first win.
Three former Chennaiyin FC strikers are now part of SC East Bengal – Jeje Lalpekhlua, Balwant Singh and CK Vineeth. And, they will be keen to do their best in an important game.
CFC Head Coach Csaba Laszlo said SC East Bengal were improving gradually and expected a tough match on Saturday.
“East Bengal have good football players; they are a new team that needs to adapt to the ISL. I saw that in the starting few matches they weren’t good but they are improving and it will be a difficult challenge for us for sure,” he said.
Chennaiyin will be hoping that skipper Rafael Crivellaro and India international Anirudh Thapa will continue their good work in the game against FC Goa.
Custodian Vishal Kaith has been key for CFC and has kept two clean sheets so far and he will be keen to continue in the same vein against an ambitious SC East Bengal searching for their maiden win.
After six games, the red and golds have zero wins, have scored the least (3) and conceded the joint-most (11). Both their goals were scored by Jacques Maghoma against Hyderabad FC.
However, there is a story that the numbers don’t tell. Their last couple of games have seen them put in improved performances. They were unlucky not to get a point against Hyderabad and all three after dominating Kerala Blasters in their last game.
Chennaiyin too are in a sticky situation and share a lot of the same problems that plague SCEB. They have scored just five goals in the league so far, with only their opponents on Saturday scoring less. Only two of those goals have come from open play.
ISL points table
| club | Matches | W | D | L | Pts | For / Against | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai City | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 11:3 | 8 |
| ATK Mohun Bagan | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 8:3 | 5 |
| Bengaluru FC | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 11:8 | 3 |
| NorthEast Utd. | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 10:8 | 2 |
| FC Goa | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 10:9 | 1 |
| Jamshedpur FC | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 9:9 | 0 |
| Hyderabad | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 6:6 | 0 |
| Chennaiyin FC | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5:5 | 0 |
| Kerala Blasters | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6:11 | -5 |
| Odisha | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5:11 | -6 |
| SC East Bengal | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3:11 | -8 |
With PTI inputs