KOCHI: While the likes of Mumbai City and ATK Mohun Bagan have been the early pace-setters in the Indian Super League, FC Goa and Jamshedpur FC have been sitting in mid-table comfort.
However, mid-table mediocrity is not what these two ambitious clubs would be striving for as they go up against each other at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco, on Wednesday.
Expectations were always going to be high at FC Goa after they won the ISL shield last season while Jamshedpur showed their intent by appointing Owen Coyle as their coach after he had guided Chennaiyin FC to the ISL final last season.
Jamshedpur go into the game with momentum on their side as they beat NorthEast United in the previous game.
The Highlanders were unbeaten until that point but Coyle's team managed to find a way to break them down as young Aniket Jadhav scored the winner.
FC Goa meanwhile would look to bounce back from the defeat at the hands of Chennaiyin FC, and since they are eight points adrift of table toppers Mumbai City, they can't afford to have any more slip-ups.
"Our focus is on the present, to think about the next game against Jamshedpur. Of course, I'm so sad about the last two results (defeats against ATK Mohun Bagan and Chennaiyin) but it's not possible to change the past," said FC Goa coach Juan Ferrando in the pre-match interaction.
The Spaniard suggested that lack of time in between matches was a factor in their defeat against Chennaiyin.
"We need to forget the last game to play the next game. We were not ready to play against Chennaiyin. We had three days and we will be ready," said Ferrando.
As for Coyle, things are falling into place as the season is progressing. After their defeat to ATK Mohun Bagan in their opening game, they are unbeaten in their last six games.
And some of their key players are also returning with influential midfielder Aitor Monroy set to return after suspension.
"It's always nice when you have a quality player like Aitor coming back into your team. He's a wonderfully gifted player, a very good professional and sets a great example to the younger players. So when you have those players available to you, that always helps the team," said Coyle.
After snapping NorthEast's unbeaten run, the Red Miners are high on confidence, but are also wary of the threat posed by FC Goa who play a more attacking style of football.
"We have to be at our very best from the first minute to the last against FC Goa. They have some wonderfully talented individual players. They can cause you problems. We have to make sure that we solve those problems and look to give them problems of their own. We know that, if we continue in the form we are on, we are a real challenge for winning another three points," said Coyle.
The game will also see the current top scorers in the league going up against each other. Jamshedpur's Nerijus Valskis and FC Goa's Igor Angulo lead the scoring charts this season with six goals each.