Mumbai City FC will face FC Pune City in the Maharashtra derby of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2015 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Friday.
When these two teams met in the first round of ISL 2015, FC Pune City defeated Mumbai City quite comprehensively.
On one hand, FC Pune City will be looking to regain top spot in the points table, while Mumbai City FC will want to jump back into the top four again.
FC Pune City have lost a bit of momentum after a solid start to the campaign. They have not won a game in their last three encounters. They will be looking for their fifth victory of the ISL 2015 and with it inch closer to securing that place in the semifinals.
When Mumbai City FC locked horns with FC Pune City in the first round of the ISL 2015, manager Nicolas Anelka missed the services of goalkeeper Subrata Paul and India skipper Sunil Chhetri, who has been in red hot form in the ISL 2015 so far.
Unfortunately, Anelka will not have the option of using them against FC Pune City again, as they are away on national duty. On top of that, Sony Norde is unavailable for the next couple of matches, as he too has gone back to join his national side.
"I believe we can do better than the away game we had in Pune but the Mumbai team is unpredictable. We can be very good on our day and we can also be very poor. That's not a good point but I hope we will see the very good face of Mumbai against Pune tomorrow," Mumbai City FC manager Nicolas Anelka told the reporters ahead of the match.
"They are good players, so of course we will miss them. But the team is ready and we will try our best to do the job without them."
Meanwhile, FC Pune City have not managed to win a single away game in this season of the ISL. They lost to Chennaiyin FC, while managing a couple of draws against Kerala Blasters and FC Goa.
"We have only played three games away from home and it has been difficult. In Chennai, although we could have been out of the game in the first half, we finished well and could have got something. In Goa again we finished well. The only real performance we have had all season that displeased me totally was Kerala away, but it was our fourth match in 11 days with three of them being away," FC Pune City head coach David Platt told the reporters.
"Every team has gone through a patch where they have not been at their best. The parity in the league means there are no favourites, so others expectations have no consequence with me. Mumbai City will be a difficult game for us, away from home against a team that is there or thereabouts, so we will have to be disciplined in our play and confident to get the result."
Where to Watch Live
Mumbai City FC vs FC Pune City is scheduled for a 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST, 9.30 am ET) start. These are the channels in India that will show this ISL 2015 Match 15 live --Star Sports 2,Star Sports HD2, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD3,Star Utsav, Star Gold(both Hindi),Asianet Movies (Malayalam), Jaya Max (Tamil),Suvarna TV (Kannada) andJalsha Movies (Bengali). The ISL 2015 match can also be watched via live streaming online (free) in India, and over a 100 countries, on Hotstar and Starsports.com.
Viewers in the UK, South East Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, can watch Mumabai City FC vs FC Pune City live on Star Gold, while audience in Canada can watch the Indian Super League 2015 game live on CBN and ATN.
Eurosport will show the Indian Super League match live in Europe and South East Asia, while the Mumbai City FC vs FC Pune City match can also be live streamed on Eurosport Player. Viewers in Sub Saharan Africa can watch the ISL 2015 game live on Zuku and SuperSport.
Middle East and North Africa viewers will be able to catch the Mumbai City FC vs FC Pune City action live on OSN, with the live streaming option on OSN Play.
Viewers in the US and Australia can watch the ISL 2015 match live on Fox Sports, while the online live stream option is on Foxsoccer2go and Foxtel.
