ISL 2018-19: Must-win for misfiring Delhi Dynamos FC against Mumbai City FC

Still winless at the halfway stage of the Indian Super Leauge, Delhi Dynamos will look to lock their first full points from a match when they take on Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

Delhi Dynamos are at the bottom of the ISL table with four points from their first nine matches. They are yet to win a single game and they have just four draws to show.

Delhi Dynamos have shown plenty of promises in several games, but if they do not convert their dominance into wins, they can forget about qualifying for the play-offs.

Mumbai City are set to play the first of their three games in nine days, of which two are away. Coach Jorge Costa is wary of Delhi, despite having beaten them in the first tie 2-0 at home.

 

MANAGERS SPEAK -- "We have an important game against a very good side, Mumbai City FC. It's match-day 10 and we still don't have a win. But I think we have been playing well in the last couple of games. I have a lot of respect for Mumbai but I hope that we can put a good performance and win the game," said Dynamos head coach Josep Gombau.

The Lions do not have dearth of creativity but it is their finishing which has let them down. Gombau will hope that his side can get their act together and pick their first win of the season on Monday.

"I think we played well and created a lot of chances against Goa and Bengaluru but could not finish well. This time, the team is confident on putting the ball at the back of the net," said the coach, whose team has already dropped four points from winnable positions at home.

"If you don't watch Delhi play and you look at their position, you can be disappointed. But if you watch them play, you'll know that they are playing well. In the last game against Bengaluru, they created a lot of chances and looked very organised. They deserved to be up by two or three goals by half-time. So, we need to respect them and be focused," said Costa.

SQUAD -- Delhi has had issues across the board. The forward line has been misfiring, the midfield has looked mediocre and the defence has been guilty of letting in too many soft goals, especially late ones. Eleven of the 14 goals conceded by Delhi so far have come in the second-half.

Perhaps, the only positive for the Lions this season has been Lallianzuala Chhangte. The young winger has been at the centre of everything good Delhi have managed to do going forward and is also the team's leading scorer with two goals. Chhangte will undoubtedly be the biggest threat for Mumbai on Monday.

Mumbai are on a four-match unbeaten strike and the most impressive part of that form has been their defensive record. The Mumbai defence, led by Lucian Goian and Subhasish Bose, has managed to keep clean sheets in each of these four matches and will look to continue the trend.

On the flipside, Mumbai have struggled going forward, scoring just seven goals in eight matches. The Islanders have been somewhat over-reliant on Modou Sougou and Arnold Issoko while going forward and have found it hard to break down the opposition defence whenever one of them fails to click.

FORM -- Delhi Dynamos have struggled this season and are enduring their worst start to a Hero ISL campaign ever. Despite their performance levels improving in the last few outings, Josep Gombau's men have failed to convert them into wins. 

Delhi have scored seven goals from 30 shots on target. They have the passing accuracy of 69.41 per cent and have kept one cleansheet.

After somewhat of an inconsistent start to their season, Mumbai have hit their stride of late, winning three and drawing one of their last four matches. Interestingly, the Islanders' unbeaten streak began with a 2-0 home win over Delhi back in October.

Mumbai have scored seven goals from 29 shots on target. They have the passing accuracy of 66 per cent and have kept five cleansheets.

Also, Mumbai's away form has been good, having lost just one in four games. The brilliance of Paulo Machado in the middle of the park coupled with a strong back-line led by Lucian Goian and Subhasish Bose have been crucial for the team.

 

HEAD-TO-HEAD -- Delhi Dynamos and Mumbai City have faced each other nine times out of which Delhi have won two matches while Mumbai have won on four occasions.

 

PROBABLE LINE-UPS:

DELHI DYNAMOS FC: Albino Gomes (GK), Pritam Kotal (C), Narayan Das, Marti Crespi, Gianni Zuiverloon, Bikramjit Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Marcos Tebar, Rene Mihelic, Nandhakumar Sekar, Adria Carmona

MUMBAI CITY FC: Amrinder Singh (GK), Sauvik Chakrabarti, Joyner Lourenco, Lucian Goian, Subhasish Bose, Sehnaj Singh, Paulo Machado (C), Milan Singh, Modou Sougou, Arnold Issoko, Rafael Bastos