There is plenty at stake for Mumbai City FC when they take on FC Pune City in the second Maharashtra derby of the Hero Indian Super League at Mumbai Sports Arena on Sunday. The home side needs nothing less than a win to keep their hopes of making it to the top-four alive. And head coach Alexandre Guimaraes and his team are very well aware of this.
"We know that there is still a possibility for us to win the league given the results of others teams during the week. The players are trying to understand that. Tomorrow is a good chance for us to continue to be in the race," Guimaraes said at the pre-match press conference ahead of the Sunday clash.
Currently seventh on the ISL points table with 17 points from 13 games, Mumbai City FC still has an outside chance of making it to the top four, but they need to start winning games. Mumbai City’s home form hasn't been great having lost three successive matches here -- 1-2 to Jamshedpur FC, 0-2 to Bengaluru FC and 0-1 to Kerala Blasters FC. So now the onus is on Lucian Goian and his boys to put their house in order.
Talking about the team's performances in the last few games, Guimaraes said, "When you have the chances you have to convert. We are playing against a team that is coming closer to their objective of making it to the top four. So they'll try to put pressure on us. But we are ready, we'll continue what we have been doing in terms of our performances."
Guimaraes also backed his misfiring forward Balwant Singh to do well in tomorrow's game against FC Pune City. "Everybody has a bad day, but he is rearing to go for tomorrow's game," the coach said.
FC Pune City, on the other hand, are second in the league standings and will now look to consolidate their position in the top four. Though their head coach Ranko Popovic was absent from the touchline in their last game, Pune City still managed to eke out a last-gasp victory over NorthEast United FC in their previous game.
With 25 points from 14 games, Pune City are quite close to achieving a top-four finish for the first time in their ISL history, but assistant coach Vladica Grujic warned against any complacency.
"No game in the ISL is easy. We need to play our best tomorrow to get the right result," he said. When the two teams met last in Pune in November, the Pune outfit defeated Mumbai 2-1.
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