Time for Chennaiyin to do 'Manuel' work

The presence of Spanish attacking midfielder Lanzarote will bolster Chennaiyin, which is languishing in the eighth spot on the table with 16 points from 15 matches. CFC head coach Csaba Laszlo will have a bigger pool of players to choose from as influential midfielder Anirudh Thapa and centre-back Enes Sipovic are back in the reckoning.

While Thapa sat on the sidelines owing to an injury, Sipovic was suspended for the previous game against Hyderabad FC (HFC) for accumulating four yellow cards. With the trio adding teeth to the line-up, Chennaiyin will look to end its winless run against Naushad Moosa-coached Bengaluru, which has 18 points off 15 games.

“Lanzarote has been training with the team. He is a player who can make the difference for us. With Lanzarote, we will have someone who can be a danger to the opposition. He previously played in India for two seasons and knows the league well,” said Laszlo in the virtual pre-match press conference on Thursday.

“Thapa is back and is 100 per cent fit. He was pretty close to making the matchday squad for the Hyderabad fixture. Sipovic is also back after serving suspension.” CFC is six points behind fourth-placed HFC and would need to practically win every game from here on to have a chance of qualifying for the play-offs.

But, Laszlo is confident that his team will turn things around in the final phase of the league stage. “Winning five matches in a row is not much. We have five finals ahead of us. First up is Bengaluru. We should not only play good football but also score goals. Hopefully, we have more luck when it comes to goalscoring against BFC,” added Laszlo.

Chennaiyin has found the back of the net only 11 times so far, the lowest in ISL 7. But, the CFC attackers could be encouraged by the absence of Bengaluru defenders Rahul Bheke and Juanan, who are out due to suspension and a season-ending injury respectively.   

“BFC is one of the most experienced teams with good individual players. In the last few games, it has showed that it can fight. Both Bengaluru and Chennaiyin are moving in the same direction. Both teams will try to get the three points,” stressed Laszlo.