Having revived their I-League campaign with a win over RUFC in the last round, East Bengal will look to further boost the title hope when they face Mumbai FC in a rescheduled fixture at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here tomorrow.
The red and gold brigade made up significant ground in the title race at the weekend when they defeated Rangdajied 3-1, while none of the top four could muster a win and three suffered losses including leaders Bengaluru.
Seventh placed East Bengal are now ten points behind leaders Bengaluru, but the local heavyweights to their advantage have played three games less.
This is one of their three fixtures in hand and thus East Bengal will press for three points to get closer to the top.
However, East Bengal will have injury worries of James Moga and Seminlen Doungel and it remains to be seen whether either of them are passed fit for the clash, but the whole squad is aware that they cannot afford to drop points.
Mumbai are still threatened by relegation as they are only three points above rock-bottom Churchill Brothers.
Khalid Jamil's side have only suffered one defeat in the last 10 games but they are the draw specialists in the league with six of the last seven ending all square.
They were not in action last weekend and thus have had significant time to prepare for this tie.
Their last match was on March 15 away at Sporting Clube and it finished 1-1.
Jamil would happily settle for another point even if that extends their winless streak to eight.
"Our priority is to save ourselves from relegation. If we keep playing the way we are playing, there is no doubt that we can survive," Jamil said.
Mumbai have the added incentive of doing the double over East Bengal for the second time in I-League history and they also lead the head-to-head record with five wins, four defeats and two draws.
However, East Bengal will be looking to make the most of home advantage and maintain their title challenge with three more points.
