ISL 2017-18: FC Pune City face Chennaiyin FC in revenge match
Chennaiyin FC will be hosting FC Pune City, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. Both the teams will be looking to win the match and grab the top spot of ISL 2017/18 for the time being. Chennaiyin FC are placed second with 17 points while FC Pune City are third with 16 points in their bag.
The Chennai based team which has recently been conceding late goals has to be more focused for the entire 90 minutes. They will be desperate for a win after the 2-2 draw in the last match against Delhi Dynamos in which they conceded the equalising goal in the dying minutes.
Ironically, Chennai had scored a late goal themselves to beat FC Pune City earlier this season. Though they are guilty of conceding goals late, they have been solid defensively with Dhanpal Ganesh and Germanpreet Singh giving good cover to the defence while taking care of the midfield. They will be happy with the return of central defender Henrique Sereno who is rock solid at the heart of the defence.
On the other hand, FC Pune City has transformed into more of an attacking side this season. But they will be without the services of Marcelinho up front, who is suspended for picking up four yellow cards. Still they have the likes of Emiliano Alfaro and Diego Carlos who are good enough to give nightmares to any defence in the league. Along with that Marcos Tebar and Adil Khan are putting in solid performances in the midfield. But still sometimes they are bit sloppy and handover possession to opposition way too easily.
The most interesting thing is that gaffers of both teams are suspended because of their comments on poor refereeing standards in the league. While FC Pune City head coach is serving the third game of his four match ban, Chennaiyin FC's John Gregory is sitting out for the second game in a row with one more to go.