Chennaiyin FC finally found their mojo in the last match, showing some brilliant attacking verve to overwhelm FC Goa. That attacking verve will need to remain, though, when Marco Materazzi's men face Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League on Friday.
Mumbai City have played just two games so far – losing their first and drawing their second – and Nicolas Anelka's men will want to start their ISL 2015 home campaign on the best possible note.
While Mumbai have a strong squad, they have failed to get into their groove so far this season, but the return of the India internationals, chief of them being Sunil Chhetri, will help their cause.
Anelka will hope Chhetri gives Mumbai the cutting edge they have lacked up front so far, which has seen them fire in just one goal in two matches of ISL 2015.
"Psychologically, we need to look forward to our first game at home, win and change the tendency of not winning games," Mumbai City FC assistant manager Oscar Bruzon said of facing Chennaiyin at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday. "From the first two games, there are quite a lot of positives. So now we don't have time to look back, we have time only to look forward."
Bruzon believes Mumbai City FC, who lost both their matches to Chennaiyin last season, can turn their fortunes around with victories at home – six of their next seven games are at the DY Patil Stadium, with five straight ones, starting with this match against the team from Chennai.
"These two weeks, we'll be introducing our team to the people of Mumbai," Bruzon added. "We are going to try to put in a good performance. We are very sure that the technical side has taken right decisions during scouting, selection as well as the pre-season sessions. And now is the time to show that."
Materazzi will have a simple mantra for his Chennaiyin team going into this game against Mumbai City – more of the same. Chennaiyin played fast, one-touch, through-ball happy football against Goa, who just could not keep up with their pace of play.
A quick start against Mumbai City FC as well, and Chennaiyin could come away with another three points away from home.
"When I win, I'm always happy because that's what I've worked for," Materazzi said. "Best thing about the last game was not to have a single goal scored by the opponents. I think it was a real important game for us to build up confidence because our players really needed it.
"For the next game, I hope we keep this awareness level. In the first game, I admit that there were many mistakes on the defence. In the second one, we were unlucky and we didn't have this awareness in the first twenty minutes. But then, we ended up having a really good game.
"Our opponents were an expert team who knew that they had to score one goal and keep it for the rest of the game. In the last match, we did great and hope to see the same performance in the next one as well."
Where to Watch Live
Mumbai City FC vs Chennaiyin FC is scheduled for a 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST, 9.30 am ET) start. Live TV coverage in India will be on Star Sports 2/HD, Star Sports 3/HD, Star Gold,Star Utsav (both Hindi),Jalsha Movies (Bengali), Jaya Max (Tamil), Asianet Movies (Malayalam) and Suvarna TV (Kannada). Match 13 of ISL 2015 can also be watched via live streaming online by viewers in India and plenty of other countries on Hotstar and Starsports.com.
Viewers in the UK can watch the exciting ISL 2015 live on Star Gold, while Middle East and North Africa viewers can catch the action live on OSN, with the live streaming option on OSN Play.
Eurosport will show the Indian Super League game live in Europe and South East Asia, while the match can also be live streamed on Eurosport Player.
Viewers in Australia and the USA can watch Chennai vs Mumbai live on Fox Sports, while the online live stream option is on Foxtel and Foxsoccer2go respectively. Audience in Canada can watch the Indian Super League 2015 game live on CBN and ATN.
