I-League: Chennai City seeks redemption

"We have a specific strategy for the opposition team and we have the support of playing on our home ground. In Imphal, we lost the match as we missed many chances and a penalty kick," said V. Soundararajan, the head coach of Chennai City.

Chennai City FC head coach V. Soundararajan (centre) and Neroca FC coach Gift Raikhan at the pre-match press conference, at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Monday.

Chennai City was dealt a painful 1-2 blow when it met NEROCA in the Hero I-League earlier this season. Ngangom Ronald's injury-time winner left Soundarajan's boys pointless despite Jean-Micheal Joachim cancelling out Kallon Kiatamba's first-half strike.

On Tuesday, Chennai City will seek to rectify its errors and take all three points from its newly-shifted home ground at Coimbatore.

"We have a specific strategy for the opposition team and we have the support of playing on our home ground. In Imphal, we lost the match as we missed many chances and a penalty kick. Now we know our mistakes and we will go all out tomorrow," said V. Soundararajan, the head coach of Chennai City.

Chennai City is eighth in the standings with two wins and two draws. Striker Jean-Micheal Joachim will be the man to mark for NEROCA as the Frenchman has already notched five goals so far in the campaign, equalling Katsumi Yusa and Aser Dipanda Dicka at the top of the goalscoring charts.

Playmaker Soosairaj is responsible for the majority of Chennai's forays forward. The local lad, who is a mainstay in midfield for Chennai, will look to feed Jean Joachim with early balls to get the better of the NEROCA defence, who, alongside Mohun Bagan, have only let in a league-best five goals in the campaign so far. 

Singam Subhash Singh is in supreme form for NEROCA and the forward will once again spearhead the Gift Raikhan-led team's attack. With three goals to his name, Subash has managed to catch the eye of the Indian football audience with his impressive performances up front for NEROCA.

NEROCA has only lost one game so far from a total of seven and is third in the standings, behind Kingfisher East Bengal and Minerva Punjab. It is unbeaten in its last six games and that is an incredible run for a newly-promoted side.

"We have to prepare mentally and stand together," said a proud Raikhan. "My team is consistently doing very well now. My boys are doing well now. The team is collectively strong."

The match is scheduled for an 8 p.m. kick-off and will be broadcast live on Star Sports 2/2 HD and live streamed on Hotstar and Jio TV.