Three matches in ten days can be a very exhausting exercise for any team, even during a normal season. To do that in a season without a proper pre-season, enough friendly matches and without reaching full fitness can be all the more challenging for the players.
However, that's the task facing Kerala Blasters who will be playing their third game in ten days when they take on Chennaiyin FC on Sunday.
The scheduling has not been kind to Blasters in November and after being winless in the first two games, things don't look any easier against a Chennaiyin side who are flying high after a well deserved 2-1 win against Jamshedpur FC.
Chennaiyin also have the benefit of having two extra days of rest as compared to Blasters and are only playing their second game of the season.
"It's difficult because some of the players are not one hundred percent ready because they started training ten days ago. So it's difficult to organise this but it's the situation," said Blasters coach Kibu Vicuna ahead of the game.
The distribution of matches has been different for various teams and Vicuna wants to adjust to the situation rather than use it as an excuse.
"It's true that we are going to play our third game tomorrow in nine days or so, and other teams, they play only one game. While in the whole of December, we will be playing four games. This is how the league has organised the schedule and we cannot do anything with that," he said.
Having lost to ATK Mohun Bagan in the season opener and squandered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 against NorthEast United, the Kerala club have their task cut out with just one point out of a possible six.
While Blasters are still trying to get their combinations right in what is essentially a new look squad from last season, Chennaiyin have stuck to the blueprint laid out by their previous coach Owen Coyle which took them all the way to the final last season.
New head coach Csaba Laszlo hasn't tinkered much with the team and has trusted his key players to do the job for him.
The biggest example of that is Anirudh Thapa who ran the show against Jamshedpur and Laszlo believes that the Indian players in his squad like Lallianzuala Chhangte, Rahim Ali, Germanpreet Singh and the others have a crucial role to play for the side.
"Everybody talks about the foreigners that come in and the quality that they have but we have to keep an eye out for the Indian talents because they are the future. And if you want to build a good league and if you want to have a good national team, you need good Indian talent," said the Chennaiyin head coach Laszlo while adding that he expected the Indian players to take more leadership roles going forward.
On paper, with a more settled squad and results and form in their favour, Chennaiyin are the favourites, but having played more matches is something that could work in the favour of Blasters.
"Nobody played that many games in the pre-season. Generally the games bring the team together so sometimes the best training session is the games. For this reason, it could also be an advantage (for Blasters)," said Laszlo.