Chennai City will be eyeing to regain their pole position in the I-League table when they take on the young Indian Arrows in their 15th round I-league encounter here Friday.
Chennai City are currently placed second with 30 points from 14 matches behind Real Kashmir, who are on top with 32 points from 16 games.
Full points will once again take Chennai on top, having played a game less than Real Kashmir.
In the first leg, Chennai had pummelled the Arrows 4-1, courtesy Spanish sniper Pedro Manzi's first hat-trick of the season.
He has gone on to register another during the course of the campaign while scoring 13 goals thus far and remains the Floyd Pinto coached Arrows' primary threat on Friday.
The Arrows have creditably bounced back since that first game and today find themselves in a respectable seventh position on the table with 16 points from as many games.
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They have also notched up a best-ever record of five wins in the process, to go with 10 losses and a draw.
Given their recent run of form two wins in the last five games including one over champions Minerva Punjab in their previous encounter and three closely fought defeats to tougher sides, coach Pinto was understandably cautious, yet optimistic at the pre-game presser.
"The focus is on recovery and on minor tweaks to our system as far as Chennai City is concerned. Everybody can see where Chennai city is on the table, but if you look at Indian Arrows, there is a big difference from what we were then, and what we are now," Pinto said.
Chennai City, who at one point were looking comfortable in their quest for a maiden national league champion's title, find themselves in a tricky situation thanks to two defeats in the last six games to current league leaders and debutants Real Kashmir FC.
They have otherwise been a revelation with their Spanish quartet in open play and a Spanish goalkeeper to boot.
Singaporean coach Akbar Nawas has also been able to get the best out of local players like Romario Jesuraj, Edwin Vanspaul, and others.
They are still comfortable with two games in hand over Kashmir and third-placed Churchill Brothers, but with a tricky three matches on the road, cannot afford to slip-up any more at this critical juncture of the league.
Nawas said on match day eve: "One chapter is over but we are looking forward to another positive one. Indian Arrows is the main concern for us now. We have to give credit to the young team of Indian Arrows. They are fast. Indian Arrows have nothing to lose, which is more dangerous for us. Our team's moral is good. We have to look forward to give our best in every match.