ISL 2015: FC Pune City v Mumbai City FC Preview – Former Arsenal teammates go head-to-head in ‘Maha Derby’

With the second edition of the Indian Super League well and truly underway, the third matchday brings us the Maharashtra Derby as FC Pune City host their rivals Mumbai City FC at the Balewadi Sports Complex.

Both these teams endured a disappointing inaugural campaign. Pune and Mumbai finished seventh and sixth respectively and they are under huge pressure to deliver this time around.

Both squads have undergone massive changes, along with new managers at the helm. Pune have not retained any of the foreign players from last season’s squad and have spent massively in the transfer window.

David Platt is the new man in charge of the Stallions, and there is a strong English presence in their squad this season. The former England U21 manager is a man with huge experience and Pune will be relying on his tactical knowledge to grab a place in the semi-finals. 

Platt will go up against his former Arsenal teammate Nicolas Anelka in this game. They were part of the famous Arsenal team which won the ‘double’ in the 1997-98 season. Anelka has been promoted to the role of a player-manager and the only other time he has played in this role was at Shanghai Shenhua – which, it must be mentioned, did not end too well for him.

He struggled to have a major impact, as a player, on the club last season and there are question marks about his managerial capabilities as well. Mumbai boast of a strong attack, but the quality of their defence is debatable. The Blue Devils conceded the most number of goals in the league phase last season and whether Anelka will be able to plug that hole remains to be seen.

FC Pune City Team News

The big news for the Pune City is that their star striker, Adrian Mutu, is doubtful for this game. The former Chelsea forward is still recovering from an injury and David Platt has confirmed that Mutu might not make it to the starting line-up. Nigerian striker Kalu Uche is likely to replace him tonight.

Platt will also be without three key Indian players for this game, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Jackichand Singh and Pritam Kotal, who are preparing for the World Cup Qualifier matches with the Indian national team.

Expected Starting line-up (4-3-3): Arindam Bhattacharya (GK); Dharmaraj Ravanan, Gouramangi Singh, Roger Johnson, Nicky Shorey; James Bailey, Didier Zokora, Lenny Rodrigues; Manish Maithani, Kalu Uche, Tuncay Sanli

Mumbai City FC Team News

Lalrindika Ralte, who was retained earlier in the summer, has been removed from the squad. Assistant manager Oscar Bruzon has confirmed in the pre-match press conference that the 23-year-old had sustained a serious injury and won’t participate in the second edition of the ISL. Thangjam Saran Singh has replaced him in the squad.

The Mumbai based team will be considerably weakened for his fixture as they will be without Sunil Chhetri and Subrata Paul, who are training with the national team. Bruzon is confident though, that they have enough quality in the squad to replace the duo.

Former India U23 international, Subhash Singh, is likely to partner Nicolas Anelka in attack, in the absence of Chhetri, while it will be a toss-up between Debjit Majumdar and Albino Gomes for the spot in goal.

Irish defender Darren O’Dea is also out of contention for this match due to an injury.

Expected starting line-up (4-4-2): Debjit Majumdar (GK); Kingshuk Debnath, Pavel Cmovs, Frantz Bertin, Keegan Pereira; Sony Norde, Andre Moritz, Cristian Bustos, Gabriel Fernandes; Nicolas Anelka, Subhash Singh

What the managers said

David Platt: "First and foremost, since pre-season we have worked on ourselves. It's difficult to study other opposition without seeing them play matches so can't analyse them. So we'll concentrate on ourselves and we're aware of some characteristics of players from Mumbai City. There are 14 games to go before we think about the semi-finals. You can get yourself back up there if you have a good run of three or four games. So the league's going to be tight. I'm confident and the players are too.”

Oscar Bruzon (Assistant coach): "Nicolas Anelka is setting the guidelines and game model of the team. We understand his brand of football. He wants vivacity, speed and quickness. We are going to fight and attack, that is what you can expect and then we will know how far Mumbai City can go.

"We're expecting to implement an attacking game model. We also need a backbone, not forgetting the defence's part."

Previous meetings

18 October, 2014: Mumbai City FC 5-0 FC Pune City (Moritz 13’, 27’, 71’, Subhash 37’, Letzelter 86’)

3 December, 2014: FC Pune City 2-0 Mumbai City FC (Dudu 66’, 80’)

Prediction

FC Pune City 2-1 Mumbai City FC

Apart from the home support, Pune City also have a superior squad than their rivals. Moreover, Mumbai City FC will be missing two key players for this match and that could be a huge blow. Expect the home side to dominate the midfield and start on a winning note.