Owen Coyle: It will be a game of two good attacking sides wanting to win

The Scotsman refuses to play down the Nizams despite their position in the table.

In a battle between the two cellar dwellers of the Indian Super League table, Chennaiyin FC lock horns with 10th placed Hyderabad FC on Friday evening. The visiting coach Owen Coyle was in attendance at the customary pre-match press conference where he interacted with  media personnel. The former Burnley FC manager believes the upcoming match will be a great test for his boys even though Hyderabad sit rock-bottom. “Hyderabad FC have had some terrible luck, also in the games where they should have won. There were also a couple of really bad decisions have gone against them. They are a good side and their league position doesn’t quite reflect the reality. The same can be said about us too. The game tomorrow will be between two good attacking sides wanting to win, so it is an exciting game on the cards.” [KH_ADWORDS type="3" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] The tactician payed tribute to his opposite number Phil Brown, who was his former teammate at Bolton Wanderers, “ Their coach Phil Brown is a good mate of mine. He was my captain at Bolton for a year. But, that friendship will be put aside for the duration of the game ,as both of us have similar aspirations, that is to win.” Owen Coyle believes his team need to perform at their optimum to pull off the difficult task of qualifying for the playoffs, “Suddenly the fourth place spot is looking up for grabs in the league and for us to take advantage of that, we need to be at our best consistently and start doing well especially away from home, because it’s been almost a year since the club has won away.” He went on to add, “As I said, Hyderabad are a very good side with a very good coach so we have to be at our best to beat them.” [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS]

Team News

Edwin Sydney Vanspaul will sit out of this game as he is serving a suspension. Jeje Lalpekhlua continues to be a long-term injury absentee.

Head-to-Head

Chennaiyin FC have met Hyderabad FC only once previously with the hosts being new entrants to the league. The game resulted in a thrilling 2-1 win for the two-time ISL champions. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News | Article Continues Below"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]

Predicted Lineup

Kaith, Renthlei, Goian, Sabia, Jerry, Germanpreet, Thapa, Schembri, Rafael, Chhangte, Valskis.

Broadcast

The game will commence from 7:30 PM IST, Friday. It will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD. It will also be available to stream on Hotstar and Jio TV.