On a high after securing three wins in a row, Mumbai City FC will aim to consolidate their place on top of the Indian Super League (ISL) Season 7 table when they face Chennaiyin FC at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim, Goa on Wednesday. (More Football News)
After suffering a defeat to NorthEast United in their opener, Sergio Lobera's side bounced back in style by winning three games on the trot. And ATK Mohun Bagan's defeat to Jamshedpur FC on Tuesday meant that Mumbai City maintained their place on top of the ISL table, thanks to a better goal difference.
Meanwhile, Chennaiyin FC find themselves in a tricky situation. The two-time winners began their campaign with a 2-1 win over Jamshedpur but are winless in their last two games, where they also failed to score.
Mumbai's depth
Mumbai City's strong squad depth is finally paying dividends, with Lobera choosing to rotate his players. Ahmed Jahouh, Hugo Boumous, Rowllin Borges and Adam le Fondre are among the ones who have shone so far while the defence, led by keeper Amrinder Singh, has also remained solid.
Islanders have conceded just one goal so far and have kept three clean sheets. The fact that Mumbai head into the game as table-toppers will give Lobera confidence, but the Spaniard doesn't want to pay much attention to their position.
"Our focus needs to remain on the games," said Lobera. "It's a big mistake for us to watch the table now. We want to win, we are top of the table and happy about this situation. But the most important thing is to put our focus on how it's possible to win the next game, not about the target of where we want to be. We need to play game by game and see the table at the end of the season and achieve the best position."
Chennai's Lively Attacking
Csaba Laszlo's side has looked lively in the attacking third and have fashioned chances but their poor conversion has cost them. They will hope to get their scoring boots on against a Mumbai side that is yet to concede from open play this season. With the injured Anirudh Thapa set to miss out, the onus will be on Rafael Crivellaro to provide creativity for Chennaiyin.
"We will try (to unlock their defence)," said Laszlo. "We are capable of scoring. We know their strengths and they've shown they are a strong team but we are also not weak, and we showed we can play our football and (also) capable of scoring goals."
Head-to-head: This will their 14th meeting in ISL, with Chennaiyin leading the head-to-head record 7-4. In the last meeting, Chennaiyin won by a solitary goal at D.Y. Patil Stadium (Mumbai). Mumbai's last win in tte fixture came in 2019 March, when they beat 2-0 at the same venue.
All you need to know about the Mumbai City FC Vs Chennaiyin FC match:
Match: 22nd match of ISL 2020-21 between Mumbai City FC and Chennaiyin FC
Date: December 9 (Wednesday), 2020.
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: GMC Stadium in Bambolim, Goa
TV Listing: Star Sports 1/HD, Star Sports 2/HD (English); Star Sports Hindi 1/HD, Star Sports 3, Star Gold 2 (Hindi), Asianet Plus, Asianet Movies (Malayalam); Star Sports Bangla; Star Sports Kannada; Star Sports Tamil; Star Sports Telugu and Star Sports Marathi.
Live Streaming: Online streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar VIP and JioTV.
All ISL 2020-21 matches will be shown live and can be streamed live in 82 territories across the world. Check world-wide coverage details HERE.
Likely XIs:
Mumbai City: Amrinder Singh; Mohammad Rakip, Mourtada Fall, Hernan Santana, Mandar Rao Dessai; Ahmed Jahouh, Rowllin Borges; Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Hugo Boumous, Bipin Thounajam; Adam Le Fondre.
Chennaiyin FC: Vishal Kaith; Reagan Keisham, Eli Sabia, Enes Sipovic, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Edwin Sydney Vanspaul, Deepak Tangri, Rafael Crivellaro, Lallianzuala Chhangte; Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr.
Squads:
Mumbai City FC: Goalkeepers - Amrinder Singh, Nishit Shetty, Vikram Singh, Phurba Lachenpa; Defenders - Mourtada Fall, Mandar Rao Dessai, Tondonba Ngasepam, Sarthak Golui, Amey Ranawade, Mohamad Rakip, Mehtab Singh, Hmingthanmawia (Valpuia); Midfielders - Ahmed Jahouh, Cy Goddard, Hugo Boumous, Herman Santana, Rowllin Borges, Farukh Choudhary, Raynier Fernandes, Bidyananda Ningthoujam, Asif Khan, Bipin Thounajam, Pranjal Bhumij, Sourav Das, Vikram Singh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy; Forwards - Bartholomew Ogbeche, Adam Le Fondre.
Head coach - Sergio Lobera (Spain)
Chennaiyin FC: Goalkeepers - Karanjit Singh, Vishal Kaith, Revanth BY, Samik Mitra; Defenders - Eli Sabia, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Enes Sipovic, Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, Reagan Keisham, Deepak Tangri, Aqib Nawab, Remi Aimol, Ganesan Balaji; Midfielders - Anirudh Thapa, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Rafael Crivellaro, Memo Moura, Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, Edwin Vanspaul, Thoi Khangebam, Dhanpal Ganesh, Germanpreet Singh, Abhijit Sarkar, Srinivasan Pandiyan, Aman Chetri; Forwards - Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr, Rahim Ali.
Head coach - Csaba Laszlo (Romanian–Hungarian)
