I-League: Indian Arrows looks for redemption in clash against Chennai City FC

Languishing at the bottom of the table, the Shanmugam Venkatesh-coached Arrows will be desperate to get a win under its belt. It will host Chennai City FC at the Cooperage Stadium in Mumbai.

Indian Arrows lost to Real Kashmir in its previous I-League game and is currently placed in the bottom of the points table.

Indian Arrows will look to prove a point when they host reigning champions Chennai City FC in an I-League fixture at the Cooperage Stadium here on Friday.

The Indian Arrows didn’t have the best of starts at its new home having gone down to a resurgent Quess East Bengal 1-3.

Following its encounter against East Bengal, the developmental side of the AIFF, again, had to face loss at the hands of Real Kashmir FC by a one-goal margin.

Languishing at the bottom of the table, the Shanmugam Venkatesh-coached boys will be desperate to get a win under their belt.

“We remain determined to our cause, the goal remains the same that we want to put our best foot forward and work very hard towards the development of the team,” Indian Arrows head coach Shanmugam Venkatesh said.

In the last encounter against Chennai City, the visiting side won by a narrow margin with Katsumi Yusa scoring the solitary goal of the match that separated both the teams.

“We expect another tough match against Chennai City. They are a quality team with many skilled players. They have conceded only three goals in the last five matches, so we know we have our tasks cut out. We hope to make good use of playing here in Mumbai and get the three points,” Venkatesh said.

Chennai City, on the other hand, has had a mixed bag of results in the last few encounters as it hasn’t seen a win in the last three matches. Being placed seventh on the points table, the team from south will look to resurrect its campaign to finish in the top half of the table at the end of the league stage.

Chennai City skipper Roberto Eslava said, “Yes, we do see an opportunity because we are taking each game as it comes and every game is an opportunity. In football, things are unpredictable and the match can go both ways.

“I think, we are doing everything fine and we don’t need to change anything. The only thing that needs to change is luck. We are getting clear chances in every match but we aren’t able to convert them. We really need to work on making sure that we don’t miss clear goal-scoring opportunities.”

Having amassed just one-point more than relegation-threatened Aizawl FC, the onus will be on Chennai City and its Japanese playmaker Katsumi Yusa to get the team over the line.