Two teams with very different mindsets – Delhi Dynamos and FC Pune City – go into their 11th league encounter of ISL 2016 on Friday at Balewadi Stadium in Pune. While Delhi, atop the ISL 2016 points table at the moment, will look forward to confirm their semis place with another win, Pune will be looking to breaking into the top four with a win.
Pune have never been able to defeat the Delhi side, be it at their home or away over three seasons of the Indian Super League and it remains to be seen if the Antonio Habas-coached side can change that winless streak on Friday.
"Delhi have been the best team in the league so far. They have been the most consistent team and they play well. They deserve to be top of the table," said Habas ahead of the game. "For the moment, Delhi are very close to qualifying for the semi-final spot. But we are looking to get the three points [against Delhi] and start our journey to the top 4. We want to be in the top 4 as soon as possible," the Spaniard added.
FC Pune City have won two of their last three games this season and it seems, their momentum could arrive in the final stages.
Delhi Dynamos, meanwhile, are on a different level altogether as they have just one defeat so far in ISL 2016 and they don't have a single defeat from their last five games. However, Delhi coach Gianluca Zambrotta is not keen on taking things lightly.
"At the moment we are in a good position but we are a long way away from reaching the semi-finals," mentioned the former World Cup winner. "There are still four matches to go. I like to take one game at a time. So, for this reason we are only focusing on the FC Pune City game right now," he added.
Schedule
FC Pune City vs Delhi Dynamos is scheduled to kick off at 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST) on November 18.
Where to watch live
India: TV - Star Sports 1/HD1, Star Sports 2/HD2, Star Sports 3/HD3
Star Gold, Star Utsav (Hindi)
Jalsha Movies (Bengali)
Asianet Movies (Malayalam)
Asianet Suvarna Plus (Kannada)
Live streaming - Hotstar.
Europe: TV - Star Gold
Australia, USA: TV - Fox Sports
Canada: TV - CBN, ATN Bangla
Bangladesh: TV - Channel 9
South-East Asia: TV - Eurosport
Live score - Twitter