Mumbai City take on FC Goa in the 34th fixture of the Hero Indian Super League at the DY Patil Stadium.
After a turbulent start to the ISL, Mumbai City seem to have finally settled in as they have been doing well of late, remaining unbeaten in their last four fixtures.
The main reason behind their recent success has undoubtedly been their solid performances at the back.
While Mumbai City conceded 10 goals in their first four opening fixtures, they did brilliantly to keep clean sheets in their next four fixtures.
The only problem for Peter Reid's side at the moment is that they seem to have become too defensive in their approach. Apart from their convincing 5-0 over Pune City in the Maharashtra Derby, Mumbai have not been able to score more than one goal in their matches.
Still, Mumbai City assistant boss Steve Darby feels that his side are heading towards the right direction.
"The first thing was that we should stop losing," Darby told ISL's official website. "That was the most important thing for obvious reasons such as the points but also the mental reasons. Players don't like being beaten and it just doesn't help morale."
The 59-year-old boss feels that the recent goal-less draws and narrows wins in the Indian Super League is an indication of the competition becoming more mature.
"It's a sign of a mature league. Usually, whether you go to Bundesliga games or the Serie A, you only get the occasional big score, and I think that's happening now. Most of the scores are tight scores, which is real football," he added.
And Darby believes that Mumbai City's goals have also dried up due to this reason.
"We would love to score more, believe me," Darby added. "Sometimes, you get lucky when you score, to be honest. We haven't scored in the last two games, but we haven't been unlucky. There were decent performances by all the sides we played and our performance was good as well."
Finally, the Englishman insists that Mumbai City are aiming for wins in all their remaining fixtures in the Indian Super League.
"We go for a win every game," he added. "We don't give anything away. We have people like Nicolas Anelka, and André Moritz who can score."
Meanwhile, FC Goa will also be hoping to do the same now that they have finally found some form in the ISL.
After a series of poor results in their first four opening fixtures, Goa finally recorded a win against Delhi Dynamos (2-1), before again registering a defeat and a draw against Kerala (0-1) and Mumbai City FC (0-0) respectively.
However FC Goa finally showed their attacking prowess in the last fixture as they thumped Delhi Dynamos 4-1 in their own backyard.
"In the last game, we were able to finish better. In the earlier games we created many opportunities to score, but were unable to do so," said Zico, according to ISL's official website, on being asked how his side managed to do well against the Dynamos.
The Brazilin Legend says that his side will be looking to get a similar result in their upcoming fixture against Mumbai City.
"They can be sure that we are playing to win, and we will attack," he added. "We are looking forward to neutralising the best players of the Mumbai team. I think it is an equal game."
Despite admitting that the top four teams in the ISL will be hard to break down due to them employing defensive tactics of late, Zico insists that he will not be changing his philosophy when Goa play against these teams.
"The teams that are there in the top four are playing a defensive game. They are not taking many risks," he added.
"But we are not going to change our philosophy. We will continue to play the way we have been playing. My philosophy has always been to win the game. If I have to change my philosophy, I will stop. I want my players to go for victory. But don't play bad football!"
Where to Watch Live
The ISL match is scheduled for a 7pm IST (2:30pm BST, 9:30am ET) start with live TV coverage in India provided by a lot of channels including Star Sports 2, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports 3, Star Gold, Asianet Movies, Suvarna Channel and Jalsha Movies. Viewers can also watch the ISL match via free live streaming online on Starsports.com.
US viewers can live stream the action on FoxSoccer2go, while Europe viewers can catch the action live on Eurosport or their online Player. Middle East and North Africa viewers can watch the game on Bein Sports or via live streaming on Bein Sports Connect.
South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa audience can catch the ISL match live onSuperSport or their online option. Australia viewers can catch the match live on Fox Sports 2 or via their live video option online.
