FATORDA (Goa): Chennaiyin FC will face southern rivals Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League on Friday.
Winless in four games, Chennaiyin will head into the encounter on the back a 2-0 defeat to Hyderabad FC in the last match. BFC on the other hand posted a 2-0 win over East Bengal in their previous outing, a first victory for them after eight games prior without one.
Currently eighth, CFC (16 points) will be aiming to leapfrog their opponents BFC (18 points) who are sixth on the table.
Looking to avenge the narrow 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture against Sunil Chhetri and company, Csaba Laszlo’s Chennaiyin squad will be boosted by some key additions.
The Marina Machans’ gaffer confirmed in his pre-match press conference that new signing Manuel Lanzarote will be available for selection against Naushad Moosa’s side.
And in more welcome news, central defender Enes Sipovic will return after suspension, while Anirudh Thapa will also be in contention after making a ‘100% recovery’ from injury, in Laszlo’s words.
For Bengaluru, central defender Juanan is ruled out with a hamstring tear, confirmed by Moosa in his pre-match notes. Youngster Leon Augustine is also out with injury, while Rahul Bheke will be unavailable due to suspension after having picked up his fourth yellow card of the season.
Both former ISL champions have had a rocky and stop-start ISL season so far, unable to get going and register wins. With the business-end of the campaign now approaching with five league games left to play and only five points separating CFC and FC Goa in fourth place, it’s all heating up in search of the play-off spots.
