Battle of blues at Bengaluru

“It’s got all the warm up to be a fantastic football match. I’m aware this is a South Indian derby of great fanfare,” said John Gregory during the pre-match press conference.

CFC failed to pick up a point against Mumbai City FC in its previous away trip after a productive run of three matches, which yielded a full quota of nine points. The host sits pretty at the top of the league standings with 12 points in five games while the tourist is currently third with nine points from as many games.

After a catastrophic first 45 minutes against FC Goa, Chennaiyin FC has got back its groove in the defensive territory, conceding only three goals in its next four encounters. Head coach Gregory has persisted with his ideology of playing three overseas defenders (Inigo Calderon, Henrique Sereno and Mailson Alves) in the backline alongside 19-year-old sensation Jerry Lalrinzuala. He would hope that this tested back-four can stop a rampaging Bengaluru FC, which is fresh from its away win in Pune and has also banged a total of 13 goals in its games thus far.

“The first 45 minutes against FC Goa will always remind me to never make those sort of mistakes again. But since then, we’ve almost got everything right. Let’s hope we can add to it tomorrow (Sunday) night,” added the Briton.

The manager is expected to bring his principal players like Jeje Lalpekhlua, Raphael Augusto and Gregory Nelson back in to the starting-line after a week’s rest. The trio was treated with limited game time with all three coming off the bench at the Mumbai Football Arena.

Star striker Jeje Lalpekhlua has had an indifferent start to his ISL campaign, scoring both his goals in the nail-biting win over ATK. Apart from it, the Mizoram-born centre forward has been quiet in the 18-yard-box without posing much menace.

Commenting on his opponent’s gameplay, Gregory said, “BFC play a high pressing game. It likes to keep possession. We need to expect open football tomorrow (Sunday). I’m sure it will be an interesting game.”

On the other hand, Bengaluru FC is riding high on confidence with its solitary loss coming against FC Goa. It finished that game with ten men following the sending off of shot stopper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

Venezuelan forward Miku has been in red hot form, smashing half-a-dozen goals in his first five games for the former I-League champion. He would aspire to pair up with Spaniard Edu Garcia to set up a goals galore at the ‘Garden city’. The latter shares the joint-top place in the assists’ chart alongside FC Goa’s Manuel Lanzarote and FC Pune City’s Marcelinho.