Chennai: Chennaiyin FC will bank on home advantage to end a four-match winless streak when they take on FC Pune City in an Indian Super League encounter here on Wednesday. The first leg clash between the two sides had ended in a thrilling 1-1 draw at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.
Chennai, currently placed second in the league table behind Atletico De Kolkata, have drawn four of their previous matches. Pune City are fourth, after two consecutive draws, lying behind Kerala Blasters but have a game at hand.
Both FC Pune City and Chennaiyin FC are coming off draws in their previous games against North East FC and Atletico De Kolkata respectively and will be looking forward to win this crucial encounter as both the sides vie for the top slot.
Pune drew their last two games and will be desperately looking for a win against a formidable Chennaiyin side, which has in its ranks the dangerous Elano Blumer, who is the highest scorer in the league so far.
The Pune City defense has been very compact and it will look to deny Elano one more time.
But unlike Chennai, who have dipped after some initial fireworks, Pune have made a remarkable comeback after the initial jitters and the team has combined really well to be comfortably placed.
Dudu Omagbemi has been a revelation up front and has been instrumental in Pune's successful run in the tournament.
Kostas Katsouranis, the only player at the ISL to have played in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has held together the midfield with the likes on Lenny Rodriguez and Israil Gurung and has played a major role in the team's good show.
The addition of Jermaine Pennant and Hungarian footballer Krisztian Vadocz, has further added to the team's strength and it will definitely fancy its chances tomorrow.
Chennai, on the other hand, are the highest-scoring side in the league so far but were held scoreless for the first time Kolkata in their previous match.
Team's assistant coach Vivek Nagul said the side needs just a couple of more wins to make the semifinals of the league.
"We believe that a couple of wins will be good. Around two more wins should do it for us. 20 points is our target. It would be good to make it to the semis," he has said.
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