ISL 2023-24: Chennaiyin FC eye turnaround against Mohun Bagan

Mohun Bagan are on a nine-match winning streak across all competitions.

Chennaiyin FC look to end their losing run at the start of the 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) season when they host a dominant Mohun Bagan Super Giant side at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Saturday (October 7).

The Mariners are flying high on the back of a nine-match winning streak across all competitions and are absolutely high on momentum. Owen Coyle will need to pull something special out of his proverbial hat to inspire his side to get a positive result and properly kickstart their new campaign at home.

The Stakes

Chennaiyin FC

The Marina Machans have had a torrid start to the campaign with two losses in as many games. They’re at absolute rock bottom in the table, without a goal or a single point. This is definitely a bad look for the two-time ISL champions and one they aim to fix against Mohun Bagan.

The players should be more motivated to win this in front of their fans. They know that even if not a win, a point is at least needed to give their campaign a shot in the arm that it needs. Another damning loss can further demotivate the mood around the fans and leave them rotted to the bottom spot and far away from the top teams already.

Mohun Bagan Super Giant

The Mariners are flying high and have not lost or drawn a game since their loss to East Bengal in the Durand Cup group stages in August. Their star-studded squad is absolutely purring and producing one win after another.

That is why anything but a win against this dejected Chennaiyin FC side can be really disappointing for them. Despite it being away from home, Mohun Bagan have enough firepower to outperform the Marina Machans. Dropping points in this can horribly derail their momentum ahead of some important fixtures after the end of the October international break.

Injury & Team News

Chennaiyin FC are likely to welcome back Rahim Ali for this game after he returned following his outing in the Asian Games for India. They have a fully fit squad available apart from that.

Mohun Bagan are going to be missing Ashique Kuruniyan for the majority of the 2023-24 season after he recently underwent surgery on a knee injury.

Head-to-head

Mohun Bagan have faced the Marina Machans six times in the past – winning two games and losing once. Three games have ended in draws.

Predicted Line-ups

Chennaiyin FC (4-2-3-1)

Samik Mitra (GK), Aniket Mukherjee, Bikash Yumnam, Ryan Edwards, Aakash Sangwan, Jiteshwor Singh, Cristian Battocchio, Farukh Choudhary, Rafael Crivellaro, Rahim Ali, Connor Shields

Mohun Bagan (3-4-3)

Vishal Kaith (GK), Anwar Ali, Rafael Yuste, Brendan Hamill, Manvir Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Subashish Bose, Hugo Boumous, Liston Colaco, Jason Cummings

Players to Watch

Connor Shields (Chennaiyin FC)

Connor Shields is yet to properly get going in the ISL for Chennaiyin FC, but his quality cannot be questioned. The 26-year-old is a clinical goal-scorer who can add a lot of threat to his side’s frontline with his smart movement and link-up play.

Shields had five goals in 14 Scottish Championship games last season and his deft finishing skills mean he can convert from multiple areas. Shields will look to use his unpredictable movement and physicality to misbalance the opposition's backline and get into more scoring areas to pose a bigger goal-scoring threat.

Jason Cummings (Mohun Bagan)

Jason Cummings was brought on board by Mohun Bagan to ensure that they could get past these away games with important wins. The Australian forward has scored one goal in his first two ISL games, but is yet to really explode into the competition.

He has a chance to notch up multiple goals against this shaky Chennaiyin backline and improve his side’s goal difference. Cummings can torment the hosts with his clever movement and link-up play, as he’ll look to help with the build-up by dropping deep at times too. However, the Aussie forward will be most focused on ruthlessly putting away the chances he gets to help Mohun Bagan earn a dominating win.

Did you know?

• Chennaiyin FC are only one of the two sides yet to score a goal in the ISL this season.
• Anwar Ali has recorded 59.8 accurate passes per game for the Mariners, the most by a defender in the ISL 2023-24.

Telecast

The Chennaiyin FC vs Mohun Bagan game kicks off at 8 PM IST, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai, on 7 October, 2023. Live telecast of the fixture will be available on the Sports18 Network (Sports18 1 channel/VH1 channel). Live streaming of the game (in multiple languages) will be available on the JioCinema app. Viewers from abroad can tune into OneFootball for the streaming.