CHENNAI: Chennaiyin FC are in search of their first home win in the ISL this season and they have Mumbai City FC standing in their way at the Marina Arena on Saturday.
CFC are on a high doing the Kolkata double beating ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium, but Thomas Bradric's team hasn't been the same on home turf yet. The new German coach is aware that a win against Mumbai, who have shown quality on all fronts, will be huge for the team.
"Mumbai City FC is a big club and it's an honour to play against them. I have certain targets while their target is the championship. We first need is to understand how to play against them considering their strengths and abilities", Brdaric said on Friday. "We have analysed them and will try to give our best," the former Bayern Leverkusen defender added.
CFC will be missing the services of Vafa Hakhamaneshi, who scored the winner in the last match against East Bengal. The Iranian defender received marching orders after getting a second yellow when he took off his shirt to display a message of solidarity with women in his country who are going through tough times. CFC have been vulnerable at the back and Vafa's absence could hurt them.
"As I said earlier, they are a very strong side and we'll try our best to not make any mistakes and give them any chance early on. We will try to deny their attackers space and take it from there," the Chennaiyin coach added.
There is more bad news for CFC as their Ghanian forward Kwame Karikari has been ruled out of the match owing to injury. Wing-back Narayan Das too suffered an injury and will miss the Mumbai game.
"Nasser (Abdenasser El Khayati) is an option for tomorrow. Aakash (Sangwan) will replace Narayan and we are preparing Julius Duker to play in the position of Vafa," Brdaric explained.
On the other hand, Mumbai, who were held to a third draw of the season in the last match against Bagan, will be desperate to get back to winning ways. Their head coach Des Buckingham is happy with the way his team has performed so far and won't go for any experiment with the formation or the playing XI on Saturday.
"We have started the season well. We are still unbeaten. But more importantly, we have shown consistency and improved with every game we have played so far," said Buckingham.
