NEW DELHI: Chennaiyin FC will look to arrest their losing run when they take on a confident North- East United FC at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Sunday’s early kick-off. Last year’s runners- up have squandered their winning start to the campaign. Since the victory over Jamsh edpur FC, they are winless in thr ee subsequent attempts. That run includes two back-to-back defeats which has left them languishing in eighth spot with fou r points from four matches.
However, the performances have not always merited those setbacks. Even in their last game, they dominated most of the proceedings only to be pegged back by bad defending during set-pieces and refereeing errors. Chennaiyin coach Csaba Laszlo admitted as much. “We are not in a panic situation. We played good football. But it is also about results.
The players showed the best phase (with performances). The season is very long. I don’t want to talk about where we will end. Against Mumbai, we were unhappy after the game and with a little luck, we can get better results.” This will be another difficult game for the twotime champions, especially considering the rich-vein of form their opponents are enjoying. Prior to the season, not many would have expected NorthEast to be third in the table and unbeaten in five games. But that is exactly what new manager Gerard Nus has done since coming in.
The Highlanders, along with Hyderabad FC and Bengaluru FC, are the only side yet to suffer a defeat this season. They have already accumulated the same number of wins (2) as last season and have been proficient in both halves of the pitch. Nus’ side have registered two clean sheets so far — just one short of last season’s entire tally.
Meanwhile, in terms of scoring goals, they are joint-highest alongside table-toppers Mumbai City (8). “I don’t think the unbeaten run adds pressure but something that we need to feel proud of. We take every game as a final and that’s how we get something out of the game because all the teams are difficult and everybody wants to win,” Nus said.
BFC face Blasters
The second match of the day will see Bengaluru FC face Kerala Blasters at Fatorda. BFC, who are yet to lose a match but have won only one of their four matches, to inflict further pain on Blasters, who have remained winless after four games.