Mumbai City FC are on a high after winning four staright games in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2020-21. And when they take on Jamshedpur FC at the GMC Stadium, Goa on Monday, Sergio Lobera's focus will be on ensuring that their winning run continues. It is not just that the results have gone Mumbai's way — their performances have been consistently impressive as well. No team has scored more (8) or conceded less (2). And unlike some teams, Mumbai haven’t been dependent on one player for goals. They have had four different scorers already. (More Football News)
But, despite all this, Lobera believes there is a long way for his team to go. "We need to improve a lot of things. We won four games in a row and that's not easy. But we need to improve a lot of things, day-by-day, in every training, game-by-game. But in these circumstances, we only have a short time," he said. "We need to go step-by-step. Our focus is on the future, on the next game. But I'm happy with the players with the effort they have put in the last game."
Mumbai have no injury concerns but they will once again miss the services of Mandar Rao Dessai, who missed the previous three games due to personal reasons. The full-back is yet to join the squad after leaving the team’s bio-bubble. On current form, any team would be wary of taking on the Islanders but Jamshedpur coach Owen Coyle has every right to be a bit more optimistic than the others in the league. Jamshedpur faced ATK Mohun Bagan when they were on a similar run and came away with all three points. Coyle hopes his team can come up with similar performance.
"They've (Mumbai) been in good form. I think they have won four in a row. What we have to do is what we did against ATK Mohun Bagan who were top of the league, undefeated and hadn't conceded a goal (when we faced them). We have to give that level of performance," said Coyle.
Coyle will once again be banking on Nerijus Valskis upfront with the striker having scored five of their six goals so far.
Jamshedpur are already six points behind Mumbai and have had three draws in their last four games. However, Coyle believes that things are slowly falling into place for his team. "We're four games unbeaten. There were a couple of games where we felt we should have won. So we are in good form. We just have to continue working hard. We do have a number of injuries. Once we get our best team, we'll be even stronger," he said.
Head-to-head: The history of this fixture slightly favours Jamshedpur, who have won thrice in their six matches against Mumbai City so far. However, Mumbai City did do the double over them last season.
All you need to know about the Mumbai City FC Vs Jamshedpur FC match:
Match: 28th match of ISL 2020-21 between Mumbai City FC and Jamshedpur FC
Date: December 14 (Monday), 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; Mohamad Rakip, Mourtada Fall, Mehtab Singh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy; Rowlin Borges, Ahmed Jahouh; Bipin Thounajam, Hugo Boumous, Cy Goddard; Bartholomew Ogbeche.
Jamshedpur FC: TP Rehenesh, Laldinliana Renthlei, Peter Hartley, Stephen Eze, Ricky Lallawmawma; Aitor Monroy, Alexandre Lima, Mohammad Mobashir; Amarjit Kiyam, Nerijus Valskis, Jackichand Telem.
