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Chennaiyin FC take on in-form FC Goa at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Saturday evening in the Indian Super League, looking for their first win in six games. Having suffered a late 0-1 defeat to Jamshedpur FC two days back, Csaba Laszlo’s eighth-placed Chennaiyin FC will be aiming to do the double over third-placed FC Goa, having beaten them earlier in December.
Rafael Crivellaro’s Olympic goal and Rahim Ali’s tap-in gave Chennaiyin FC all three points that night, but things have not gone the Marina Machans’ way since, with only one win to their name that has followed. Lack of goals has been central to their woes, with Chennaiyin the league’s lowest scorers with only 11 goals to their name. Crivellaro being ruled out with injury and Anirudh Thapa also being kept out by recurrent knocks has derailed Laszlo’s plans despite being among the foremost in terms of chance creation.
“The statistics show that we missed nearly everything and if you miss so many chances it is always painful for the team. We didn’t score goals when needed and we have faced certain injury problems in the midfield which played a major role in the results as they created most of the chances,” the Chennaiyin FC gaffer said in the pre-match press conference.
Chennaiyin FC are currently on 17 points from as many games. They will have to win all of their remaining three league games and hope for the likes of FC Goa, Hyderabad FC, and NorthEast United FC above them to drop points if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for the ISL semis.
While Chennaiyin FC have struggled to score, FC Goa have had their own issues in defence. Compared to Chennaiyin FC’s six clean sheets, Goa have managed to keep only two of them. And with their foreign defenders Ivan Gonzalez and James Donachie suffering injuries recently, it has compounded FC Goa Head Coach Juan Ferrando’s worries, with his side conceding 14 goals from set-pieces this season. The likes of Eli Sabia, Enes Sipovic and Isma Goncalves will be hoping to capitalize in that department.
In terms of team news for Chennaiyin FC, left back Jerry Lalrinzuala will be expected to make a return from suspension. Fans of the two-time champions will also be hoping that Thapa is fit to start, after he was left an unused substitute against Jamshedpur FC.
One sub-plot worth looking forward to will be Spaniard Manuel Lanzarote coming up against his former side in FC Goa. With a whopping 69 goals being scored in just 18 games so far between both sides in ISL history, the likes of Lanza will surely be hoping to increase the tally from Chennaiyin FC’s perspective. Goals are a guarantee in this encounter, with no goalless draws ever being played between the two.
